James Potter: The Mastermind
by DobbyRoxMySox
Summary: James loves Lily. Lily hates James. And so James begins his pursuit of Lily through a series of brilliant schemes which incedentally don't go quite as planned. However somewhere along the path of rejection and destruction things heat up between the two...
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once because it's a pain and no one really wants to read these anyways. I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters in it. They are all property of the fabulous J.K. Rowling. I'm just a wannabe writer using her ideas and bending her characters to my will._

_A/N: I know this is ridiculously short, but this idea just came to me literally like five minutes ago and I'm notorious for forgetting things so I just figured I'd get it done quick and see what you think. If you like it I'll continue- each chapter will be a new one of James's plans to get Lily to go out with him and I'm thinking I'll label them by letters of the alphabet so they'll be 26 chapters total. Anywho... I'll shut up now. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. _

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Plan A: First Rejection

"Hey Evans," I called loudly.

She swung around to face me, a sour expression on her face. "Yes Potter." She said icily.

"You wanna go out with me?" I said quickly, hoping I didn't appear too nervous.

She looked me over for a second and then opened her mouth to speak. My heart leapt. I was sure she was about to say yes, and then: "What on earth would give you the idea that I would want to go out with an egocentric jerk like you?" she asked.

Wait wha?? Did she just say no? Did she seriously just reject me? "Uhhhhhhh…" was all I was able to say as she turned her lovely back on me and walked off to her next class.

Lily Evans was the first girl to ever turn me down. So naturally I was determined to make her go out with me. And to look up egocentric, because I have absolutely no idea what that means.


	2. Plan B

_Disclaimer: See first chapter._

_A/N: Another chap. It's short but I like it the way it is, hopefully the next few will be a bit longer._

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Plan B: Persistence

"Time for Plan B." I said sinisterly at the breakfast table on Monday.

"Plan B for what?" Asked Remus warily.

"Plan B to make Evans go out with him." Said Sirius smirking. "So what's the plan, mastermind?"

I puffed up my chest proudly, "Operation ask Evans out repeatedly until she finally says yes."

Peter snorted into his cereal, while Remus guffawed openly and Sirius choked on his pumpkin juice. "Oh c'mon Prongs. You can't honestly think that's going to work!" He said.

"Yeah well, you just wait and see!" I retorted somewhat lamely as I stood up and strode over to Lily, where she was sitting with her two best friends, Alice and Mary.

I sat down next to Lily and grabbed a piece of toast. Apparently she was ignoring me because she didn't say anything. I shoved the piece of toast in my mouth and turned towards her, "Gooutwithme." I said.

"What?" she asked, looking at me with the kind of concern a doctor might show a mental patient. I swallowed my toast quickly. "Go out with me?" I asked again, feeling hopeful.

She sighed. "Potter, I told you no yesterday. My answer isn't going to change."

Ah well, worth a shot. Time to use some of the ol' marauder charm. "As I recall you called me an 'egocentric jerk' but you never actually told me you wouldn't go out with me."

She glared at me. "Well I'm sorry if the message didn't get through your thick skull the first time. I'll make it perfectly clear now. The answer is no."

"What if I said please?"

"The answer would still be no."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Go away Potter."

"I will if you go out with me."

"No."

"Please."

"Shut up Potter."

"Go out with me and I will."

"Shut up or I'll make you."

"Not until you say yes."

"But I won't."

"Then I won't stop asking."

"Oh yes you will," said Evans, her eyes sparkling maliciously.

I opened my mouth to make an angry retort but no sound came out. What the-

Evans was twirling her wand between her fingers. "Silencing charm Potter." She said smugly.


	3. Plan C

_A/N: This chapter is pretty bad but I wanted to post something. The last part is in Lily's POV._

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****Plan C: Different Angle**

"Hey Padfoot! Wait up!" I called as I spotted Sirius heading towards Care of Magical Creatures class.

'What's up Prongs? I thought this was your free period." He asked as I caught up with him.

"Well yeah it is," I sighed. "Will you ask Evans out for me?"

Sirius just looked at me. "Are you serious?' he asked finally.

I smiled, "Well no, actually you are."

"Prongs ol' pal, that joke got old first year."

"I know, so will you do it?" I tried again.

"What makes you think it'll make a difference who asks her?" Said Sirius.

"I don't know, but I'm running out of ideas here."

Sirius smirked, "But you're only on Plan C."

I cringed. "Don't doubt my creativity. I'll come up with the perfect plan eventually. But for now, will you just go with me here? I'll pay you."

I pulled a couple sickles out of my pocket. Sirius's face lit up like the puppy dog he was, "Sold!" he barked.

/-o0o-/

I was just standing by the greenhouses, waiting for class to begin when Sirius came up to me. I sighed, what did these Marauder idiots want now? Why couldn't Potter just leave me alone? He'd been asking me out every chance he got since that silencing charm wore off.

"So Evans," he said offhandedly. "James wants me to ask you if you'd like to go out with him."

I noticed that Sirius's pocket was jangling more than usual. "Did he pay you?" I asked, disgusted.

Sirius shrugged, "Maybe."


	4. Plan D

_A/N: I got nothin'. On with the story. _

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Plan D: Birthday Surprises

"Guess what tomorrow is?" I asked, bouncing on my bed gleefully.

"Uhh Saturday?" Tried Peter.

"No idiot." I said, "It's Evan's Birthday."

"So?" asked Remus, looking up from his book.

"So…" I began, waiting for the dramatic pause to set in, "I'm going to give her the best Birthday gift ever!"

"And that is…" prompted Sirius teasingly.

"Me!" I said ecstatically. "She won't be able to resist! After all, it is her Birthday."

My friends sighed and went back to what they were doing. Sirius destroyed another one of Peter's pawns and Remus flipped a page in his book.

"You guys…" I whined, "This is important to me. I'm going to decorate the common room for her tonight, will you help?"

Sirius looked up from the chessboard. "That depends," he said slowly, "Will this decorating involve any silly-string, permanent sticking charms, eggs, and/or toilet paper?"

"Uhhh no." I said.

"OK. Then no deal." He said turning back to his game. "Dammit Peter!" he cried, "You're not allowed to move more than one piece at a time for Merlin's sake!"

"Remus?" I asked hopefully.

"Sorry Prongs."

"Peter?" I tried desperately.

"Sure I'll help!" he said, jumping up a little too eagerly and sending the contents of his sandwich and the chessboard flying.

On second thought…

/-o0o-/

"Lily, Lily! You have to see this!"

It was Mary shaking me out of bed. I looked at my watch. It read 6:30 on Saturday morning. "Mary what the heck!?" I cried as she shoved slippers on my feet and all but dragged me to the door.

As we got down the dormitory stairs I looked up groggily and blinked, several times. Looking down at me was a gigantic pink banner, the size of a classroom, with my face on it. Pink streamer and confetti littered the common room virtually everywhere. Underneath the banner was a smaller sign that read: "Happy Birthday Lily. Will you go out with me?"

And there he was. None other than James Potter, strutting over to me, covered in confetti and holding a little heart shaped card. "Happy Birthday Lily." He said.

I was speechless. Horrified even. It was a good thing Mary had shown me this early or the entire Gryffindor tower would have seen it. "Y-you did this?"

He seemed to take my stuttering as a compliment and beamed. "Only the best for you, Lily-flower." He said in an insufferably pathetic tone.

"Potter." I said again. He looked at me expectantly. "My Birthday was last week!"


	5. Plan E

_A/N: Another fun filled chap. Reveiws are always appreciated. _

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Plan E: Polyjuice Potion

So Slughorn had this tub of polyjuice potion at the back of the class… He wasn't using it, and there was no protective spells or anything… I mean c'mon. That's like practically asking me to steal it. Which is exactly what I did of course.

And then there only remained the one problem: What to do with it? It was then that I saw Mary, Lily's friend, skipping down the hallway. Bingo.

/-o0o-/

The potion tasted worse than sour milk mixed with dog crap and eggs way past the expiration date… And believe me, I know what that tastes like. Don't ask.

I felt hot and cold all at once, and then a shudder went thru my body and I began rapidly changing. The first thing I noticed was that I got shorter, my hands felt smaller, so did practically everything else in my body. I felt something brush across the side of my face. I turned my head, and realized it was just my (Mary's) curly brown hair. Man, this was weird.

All that was left was to go find Lily.

This turned out to be a pretty easy task, I found her in the common room, sitting alone by the fire. I went to go sit down next to her, stumbling a bit in Mary's highly uncomfortable shoes.

"Hey Lily." I said brightly. My voice sounded girlie and high-pitched.

"Oh hi Mary," she said tiredly, "What's up?"

I shrugged, slumping into one of the comfier armchairs next to her. "Nothin."

She smiled at me, "Did you finish that herbology essay yet?" she asked.

Not sure if Mary had or had not, I settled for a neutral response, "Might have started it."

"You want me to read it over for you?" Lily asked kindly.

_Uh-oh. _I backpedaled a bit, "Er no- thanks. I'm going to try to pull this off on my own for once."

She grinned, "Good for you."

We were silent for a time as Lily gazed into the depths of the fire. I wondered what she was thinking, but thought it better not to ask. After all, I wanted to steer this conversation towards me eventually, and in a way that wouldn't arouse suspicion.

As it turned out, I needn't have worried. Lily brought me up herself, "Potter asked me out today," She sighed exasperatedly, "_Again._"

I grinned like a Cheshire cat, this was going to be fun. "That's great Lily!"

She glared at me (Mary), though I noticed it wasn't as hateful as the one reserved for me, more or less rather teasing. "Oh c'mon Lily," I said, trying to sound like Mary might have in this situation, "He is a nice piece of eye-candy."

She rolled her eyes at me, "Geeze Mary, just yesterday you had the hots for Sirius, now you're into Potter? Are you feeling ok?"

My eyes widened at this new information. I'd have to tell Sirius. He'd been checking Mary out for days now. "No, I um… Still kinda like Sirius, he's very- erm… Well structured." I almost gagged as the words left my mouth, Lily didn't seem to notice, she was too busy rolling her eyes.

"Mary, Mary, Mary…" she sighed.

"Ok. Enough about me, lets talk about you and James."

Lily frowned, "Since when was he James?"

I shrugged, "I dunno. But why do you keep saying no to him? He seems like a nice guy. He's honorable, trustworthy, loyal, supportive, funny, athletic, extremely handsome…" I was laying it on thick here, and I knew it, but Lily seemed to need a little push in the right direction.

She looked at me disgustedly, "Alright." She said menacingly, "Lets set a few things straight. One. Potter is the farthest thing from honorable. He and his friends are nothing but oversized bullies. They make everyone's life a living hell."

I frowned at this but let her go on. "…Secondly, he is not funny, he just thinks he is. He's actually rather obnoxious. Thirdly, he's not handsome. It makes me sick every time I see him mess up his hair. He's just a stuck up show off. Just because he has a miniscule amount of talent on the quidditch pitch does not make him a God, even though he seems to think it does. Quite honestly, it's a wonder his broomstick can still lift him off the ground, seeing how enormous his head has gotten."

I'm not going to pretend that didn't sting. However, I stood my ground, "Awww Lily, that's mean. I'm sure he has a few good qualities." I prompted.

She shook her head.

"C'mon… Can't you even think of one?"

She stomped her foot hard into the floor, angry now, "No Mary! He's a sleazy, arrogant, son of a bitch who takes pleasure in other people's pain! He's horrible and self-centered and sneaky and underhanded… and cruel… and quite frankly, I don't want anything to do with him. I wish he'd just leave me alone, because I have no room in my life for antagonizing bastards!"

"I am not!" I cried out automatically, before realizing my mistake and putting my (Mary's) bony little hand over my mouth. _Crap._

Lily's eyes practically bugged out of her head as she stared at me, hard.

Our eyes locked for a second and I began sweating profusely. At first I thought it was from the stress, but then I realized that I was rapidly changing, my hair was growing shorter, my arms and legs longer, and my chest flatter.

Lily saw all this of course. Needless to say she was outraged. Beyond that even, and let me tell you, a livid Lily is _not_ a pretty sight.

She bellowed, no shrieked one word, and one word only, "POTTER!"

And with that I was gone, all traces of pride forgotten, as I sprinted up the stairs to my dormitory, feeling for all the world as if Dante Inferno's seventh circle of hell had converged upon me. Lily shot a curse at me, but I ducked just in time and reached the refuge of my dorm.

As soon as I was through the door, I slammed it closed and magically sealed it about ten times, just to be safe.

Sirius watched amusedly from his bed. "So, it didn't go to well with Lily I'm guessing…"

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_A/N: Like it? Hate it? Tell me what you think. Just push the little blue button. C'mon, you know you want to... _

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	6. Plan F

_A/N: This isn't quite as good as it could have been, but I have the next chapter already done and I think it is a lot better. I'll probably upload it tomorrow._

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Plan F: Peace Offering

A few days after the whole Polyjuice Potion incident, Potter approached me again. Needless to say, I glared at him. I was pleased to see him cringe a bit at this, evidently he was still a little scared of me. I grinned wickedly.

"Hey Lily…" He began timidly, taking a seat by the fire. I noticed he had a brown-papered box in his hands.

"Are you trying to give me a belated birthday gift again Potter?" I asked warily.

He shook his head. "No. This is a peace offering." He shoved the parcel into my hands.

I just looked at it, and then looked back up at him incredulously.

He gave me a pleading look, "Please open it Lily. I'm not sure if I gave it enough air holes."

I raised my eyebrow at him, and started ripping the paper off as fast as I could. Trust Potter to put a living, breathing creature in a box with no air.

He watched me eagerly, as I raised a small, shoebox sized cage into the air, squinting to see what was in there. All I could see was a little pink ball of fluff, and then that ball of fluff stirred. It was a pygmy puff!

I smiled despite myself, immediately feeling bad for the poor thing, and opened the door to the cage.

The fluff ball hoped out quickly. I picked it up and stroked it. "Potter this is- OUCH!"

I looked down and noticed I was bleeding.

"Potter, your peace offering bit me!" I cried.

He looked flustered, and reached to grab the fluff ball out of my hands. I snatched it away from him quickly, knowing Potter he'd probably kill it, and noticed a little bit of pink coloring on his hand. Then I looked down at the pygmy puff and saw a bit of gray in the midst of all that pink dye, "Potter!" I exclaimed, "This isn't a pygmy puff, it's a niffler!"

I pelted the thing at his head without thinking. It's sharp claws dug into the skin on his face and he groaned in pain.

"Ouch-awww geroffmee!" He mumbled, trying to detach the thing from his face. It didn't work, but the niffler did notice his shiny watch, and decided to try to rip it off his wrist instead of gouging his eyes out.

I giggled, watching Potter struggle with the little creature, and then, out of the corner of my eye, caught Sirius at the foot of the dormitory stairs, laughing his head off. Suddenly I knew who had put the pink dye on. I aimed a curse at him, and he buckled over, clutching his rear end in pain.

I got up and headed towards the portrait hole, "Well this has been fun boys, but I have to go." And with one swift glance at the room, (Potter was still wrestling with the niffler and Sirius was looking absolutely appalled as a tail started sprouting out of his behind.) I strode off, chuckling to myself.

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A/N: Just in case it wasn't clear, Sirius gave Potter the niffler, and Potter actually thought it was a pygmy puff. I know this isn't the most original idea, but it was all I could come up with. I'm getting massive writers block lately.

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	7. Plan G

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A/N: I just finished my finals, and the living hell that was freshmen year is finally over! Woot woot! I'm so excited so I decided to update this again. Hope you like it!

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Plan G

Although I do loath a few of the Gryffindor quidditch players (cough, cough, Potter, cough, cough.) I'm not without team spirit. So naturally when the first game of the season rolled around, I was there screaming my lungs out along with my two best friends, Alice and Mary.

Madam Hooch walked onto the field, and the team captains shook hands. I distinctly saw Potter's gleeful face as the opposing Ravanclaw captain cringed from the force of his grip. I never got why captains always attempted to break each other's fingers. Then the two teams kicked off into the air, the balls were released, the whistle sounded and the game began.

I cheered loudly as the Gryffindor players soared into the sky and took off after the quaffle. Potter got there first of course (What a show off.) and zoomed off towards the goal, putting the quaffle in with ease. He punched the air triumphantly and then returned his attention to the game.

It was then that I realized something was wrong. It was a nice, perfectly warm and clear day, ideal weather for a quidditch match. The players were playing just as fiercely as usual, (the Gryffindor keeper had just nearly been unseated by a bludger.) the spectators were cheering as loud as always, and yet something was missing. I looked up. Potter had just scored another goal and now was doing a victory lap around the pitch. What a pompous jerk. And that's when it hit me. There was no commentator. Where was-

"DAMMIT WORMTAIL! What'd you do to the mike?" came Sirius's booming voice. "Oh that's better. Score: Gryffindor 20, Ravenclaw zip."

I buried my face in my hands. Oh God no. Who in their right mind would let Sirius Black commentate?

"Ravenclaw appears to be in a bit a funk, wouldn't you say? Although that might have something to do with their taste in antique broomsticks. A Comet 260, pur-lease. That thing's not even fit to wipe the floor. Now Potter's Cleansweep, there's a broom I like. It's got a pretty sweet acceleration rate and automatic drift control and-"

"Just give the score and shut up Black." Came Professor McGonagall's crisp voice thru the speaker.

"Sure thing Professor, but the score hasn't changed, it's still 20-0 Gryffindor. Oh but wait- Creech has the ball, he's streaking down the pitch! Ravenclaw beater Drew Sears aims a bludger at him, oooh nice dodge! He passes the quaffle to Potter. Potter catches and heads towards the hoops! Wait, what the bloody hell was that!?"

I groaned. Potter had just stood up on his broomstick and drop-kicked the quaffle into the goal. Talk about a huge ego, I thought as my friends cheered. "Oh shut up." I said irritably, "It wasn't that impressive."

"Wow! That was impressive!" rang Sirius's voice as if reading my mind. "Oops, Ravenclaw chaser Davis now has the quaffle. He's heading down towards the Gryffindor end of the pitch. But here come the beaters. Ooooo nice shot! Davis drops the quaffle, and Creech has it again."

Alfred Davis was clutching his nose but still chasing after Creech. It was bleeding profusely and apparently obscuring his vision because he crashed straight into his fellow chaser and they both crashed to the ground. The whistle blew just as Creech scored Gryffindor's fourth goal. "And that's 40-zip Gryffindor." Called Sirius, "Ravenclaw had better up their game or Gryffindor is going to wipe the floor with them!"

I looked down in concern as Madam Pomfrey came to inspect the two fallen players. One of them appeared to have broken their wrist but she was quickly fixing it. Alice nudged me and pointed to the commentator's podium. I looked up and saw Potter hovering right next to Sirius and whispering something in his ear. He grinned as Potter smirked and flew away. "Oh no, what are they up to now?" I sighed aloud.

"Who knows?" said Mary, digging into her bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, "Want some?" she asked, offering me the bag.

"No thanks." I said quickly. I'd had some bad experiences with those candies.

Just then Madam Hooch blew her whistle and I focused my attention back on the game. One of the Ravenclaw chasers had the ball now, I didn't know who it was because Sirius had decided it would be more beneficial to burp his ABC's rather than comment on the game. I watched as the chaser swooped down on the Gryffindor goal and shot at it. The Gryffindor keeper, Knott I think, blocked it easily and threw it to Monroe, who threw it to Potter who scored.

I sighed as all around me Gryffindor's cheered. Before long that kid's head was going to be too big for his broomstick to lift him off the ground. Sirius had lapsed into silence for awhile, but now cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone, "Attention Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I have an important announcement to make."

I shook my head hopelessly, where was Mcgonagall when you needed her? "The Captain of The Gryffindor Quidditch team would like to let you all know that he is dedicating this game to one Lily Evans, and he hopes that this demonstration of his love will make her finally agree to go out with him."

_No this cannot be happening!_ was my first thought after Sirius finally shut up. I felt my face going bright red. Mary and Alice squealed and burst into a fit of giggles while all around me a collective murmur of "_Awwwwwwwww!_" was taken up.

For Merlin's sake, what was wrong with that kid? Why could he not take no for an answer? "Ohhh Lily! I'm so happy for you!" shrieked Mary, jumping up and down.

My face got redder, if that was even possible and I looked down at my shoes, suddenly finding the lacing extremely fascinating. Alice pulled my chin up and I looked forward to see the idiot in question riding over to me, somehow with bouquet in hand. "Potter!" I cried, "What the hell are you doing? The game's not over yet!"

I may hate the kid, but I hated losing to Ravenclaw more. Potter just shrugged and glided over towards the stands, hovering just out of my reach. If only he was a little closer, I thought. Then I could punch his brains out.

"Lily," he began in an overly flamboyant voice.

He paused as if waiting for a dramatic affect to set in. It didn't. I just glared at him so he went on. "I love you like the moon loves the night sky, without you I am not whole, your love is what fuels me through these long and weary days and when I look into those sparkling emerald eyes I am filled with a new sense of-"

WHAM! I nearly screamed as a bludger came pounding into view and struck Potter mid-speech. He fell to the ground in a crumpled, bloody, heap. I looked down eagerly to make sure he was ok, and then mentally berated myself. Who cares? He's a mindless piece of Hipogriff crap anyways.

However, when the stretchers came out and Potter was carried down to the hospital wing I had to make sure he was ok. For some reason I felt partially responsible for his injury, so naturally I just had to check. After all, I told myself as I rushed down the stands, I was only looking out for the best interests of the team.

/-o0o-/

The first thing I saw when I woke up was her lovely face looking down at me from the foot of my bed. She wasn't smiling, but she wasn't exactly glowering either, so that was a plus. At first I thought I must be in heaven, there was Lily and there was my broomstick propped up against the wall. All that I needed to be content. But then I tried to sit up and every muscle in my body ached and groaned in protest. If I were in heaven I would not be in so much pain. "Hey." I said the first thing that popped into my head.

She jumped. Obviously she wasn't aware that I was awake. "Hello Potter." She said blandly.

We both just looked at her for a moment then. Me trying to make eye contact and she staring somewhere at my forehead. Finally I could stand it no more, I had to ask. "Lily…" I began, searching for the right words, "I-"

But I was cut off as she strode to my bedside and put a finger to my lips. I felt my lips tingling at the pleasant warmth of her touch. It was almost, _sexy_.

"Potter," she said slowly, "I just came here to see if you were alright and to tell you that my answer is no. And that's never going to change. You had better not pull another one of those stunts on me again, or I can assure you that the damage will be much worse than a few broken bones. Good night."

And with that she spared me one last pitying glance and strode off towards the doors at the end of the hall.

I should have been stung by her words, but at that point the only coherent thought I had was this: _She was worried about me. _Her words kept ringing in my head, _"I just came here to see if you were alright, to see if you were alright, alright, alright."_

She could deny it all she wanted, but I knew she cared about me or she wouldn't have come. It would just take a little persistence to coax it out of her. On to plan H…

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A/N: Reveiws make my day. If you have a few spare seconds, I'd love to hear what you think. Constructive critism is ok, just as long as you tell me why you didn't like it. If you're just going to tell me that my story sucks then don't bother. It's incredibly rude and a waste of time and space.


	8. Plan H

_A/N: It has recently been brought to my attention that I forget to include a few key facts. First off both Lily, James and all their friends are in seventh year. I'm not sure if this is strictly cannon, but it just makes everything easier when they're all in the same classes and everything. Also, Lily is head girl, and James is the quidditch caption. So without further adu. I give you Plan H..._

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Plan H: The Diary

"So…" I said, plopping down in the armchair next to Lily's.

She looked up at me scathingly, "Potter." She said in warning.

I raised an eyebrow, "Look." I said, "I just got out of the hospital wing an hour ago and I have no wish to return. I just wanted to see what you were up to."

"Sure." She said and went back to writing in a small, blue spiral-ring notebook.

"What's that?" I blurted out. "Your diary?"

I leaned over a bit to read it. She slammed the thing shut in my face and turned on me, red faced and furious. "Well if it is, I'm hardly going to let _you _see it!" She exclaimed.

And with that she jumped to her feet and stomped off to her dormitory. It seemed like she was doing that a lot to me these days.

/-o0o-/

_So,_ I thought to myself as I lay awake in bed that night, trying to drown out Peter's snores and get to sleep, _She has a diary. That she doesn't want me to read. Hmmmm. Interesting._

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a snoop, but this was just too much. I had to go and look at that journal or I would die of curiosity. I mean she told _me_ specifically that she didn't want _me_ to read it. That's like practically begging me to do it.

So I slipped out of bed quietly, so as to not wake up my friends, and pulled my trusty invisibility cloak out of my trunk. I put it on and snuck downstairs to the common room. The common room was almost pitch black, there was a dim fire flickering in the grate, but otherwise all was still and obscured by darkness. I made my way over to the girl's dormitories, stumbling every now and then as I bumped into such things as armchairs and tables.

I made it to the girls dormitories and felt around for the wooden railing. I grasped it and began to climb. The staircase didn't creek, thankfully. I made it about halfway up and then…

THUD! The stairs slid out from under me and I plummeted to the ground. _What the hell? _I had landed on my leg funny and it was now throbbing painfully. I tried to sit up but found I couldn't. My leg was stuck under my body and I was laying on my back at the foot of the stairs. "Shit!" I cursed loudly.

I looked up. All along the now smooth stairwell doors were opening and girls were peering out to see what was going on. Thankfully my invisibility cloak was still wrapped around my shoulders. One by one the frantic whispering died down as girls got bored and decided to go back to bed.

I saw Lily, Mary, and Alice all crowding the top floor landing. Mary and Alice yawned and decided to head back inside. I heard the door click shut softly, and it was just me and Lily, alone in the room.

She looked around to make sure she was alone and then, "Accio cloak."

I felt my invisibility cloak whipped off me but I could do nothing about it in my present condition. She caught it and glared at me.

I managed a wan smile. "Hey Lily." I called, "A little help here."

She smirked and headed for the stairs. "Don't-" I tried to warn her, but it was too late.

With a little yelp Lily slipped and slid down the spiral staircase, landing perfectly on top of me. "Owwww." I cringed. This would have been incredibly romantic except that it felt like my leg was going to fall off.

She looked down at me, her face just inches from mine, and my breath caught in my throat. She was just so damn beautiful. Her hair was flyaway and her make-up was washed off, but the way her pretty little face flickered in the dim light, the way those lovely emerald eyes shone with passion, it was just too much. I leaned forward eagerly to kiss her, and she slapped me. Hard.

"Potter," she hissed, jumping away from me like I was contaminated. "What is your problem?"

"I-"

"No." she said vehemently, "I'm sick of excuses! Here I was trying to be nice and help you up, and you try to make a move on me! I've lost count of how many times I've told you no. I am not attracted to you, and I will never go out with you no matter how many times you ask, so just give up!"

"But Lily I-"

"I don't care Potter! I really don't care! Sneaking up to my dormitory in the middle of the night. How much lower can you get? You have no morals, you are vile and arrogant, and I don't have time for all this! Just leave me alone and get a life! I'm running out of patience here, and if you try it again I swear on Merlin's beard that I'll hex the living daylights out of you! I'm going to bed. Good night."

And with that she turned on her heel and strode over to the stairs, tapping the railing with her wand so that the steps sprang back into their proper place.

"Wait Lily! You can't leave me like this!" I called feebly.

She ignored me and kept going. When she got to the top of the stairs she leaned over the railing and smirked at me, and then she was gone. I noticed she left the invisibility cloak lying next to me. Probably forgot it in her haste to leave me stranded here.

Man, this was turning out to be a rough night. I knew Sirius would have a field day with this, but quite frankly, I saw no other option. I groped around in the dark for my jean pocket, and managed to find it and procure a small hand mirror. I held it to my face and whispered, "Sirius."

In an instant Sirius's groggy face appeared in the mirror. "This had better be good." He stated simply.


	9. Plan I

_A/N: For once I have nothing to say. Enjoy the story, reveiws are appreciated if you have the time._

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Plan I: Act of Kindness

I hobbled into the great hall the next day, and sat down next to Sirius, trying not to cringe when my foot got caught on the bench.

Sirius just looked at me, his mouth was so full of waffle that he couldn't say anything. It was a mark of how strong our friendship was that Sirius had found me and dragged me back to my bed last night, without laughing. Ok, not laughing _much_.

He swallowed his food, gulped down the last of his pumpkin juice and sighed. "You know, you should really get that looked at."

"No." I said vehemently, "If I go to the hospital wing the nurse is going to want to know how I got hurt, and I am not about to let the whole school know what happened."

"Well the _whole school _won't necessarily know." Said Sirius sensibly.

"That woman's got a mouth bigger than a mutant flobberworm."

"Interesting analogy there Prongs. Care to elaborate?" teased Sirius jovially.

"No."

"Too bad. You know, you could just tell her you tripped on the stairs on your way to breakfast or something."

"James Potter does _not_ trip down stairs." I said fiercely.

"Or maybe Moony could help." Suggested Sirius, as he helped himself to a second serving of eggs.

"Help with what?" Remus asked as he and Peter staggered over to the table, both yawning tiredly.

"Prongsarella just got rejected by Lily, _again_."

"Gee, thanks for the consolation Padfoot." I muttered darkly.

"Anytime pal."

"Oh poor James. Did she hurt your feelings?" said Remus jokingly.

"Sod off. Both of you." I snapped. Then as an afterthought, "I killed my leg falling down the stairs, do ya think you could fix it?"

"Maybe." Said Remus evasively, "What'd you do, sprain it?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Hold on, let me see."

Remus went to duck his head under the table but Sirius grabbed his hair and yanked it back. "Not right here, you dillhole!" he hissed.

"Well why not?" asked Remus.

"Just-just wait until we get back to the common room, that's all." He said shooting a glance towards the end of the hall.

I didn't need to look to know he was talking about Lily. I sighed. "That's like the fifth time this week." I said dismally.

"Well maybe you should just give it a rest for awhile. You're probably just annoying her. Maybe you could try being nice for a change." Remus said knowledgably.

"I am nice!" I sputtered. "I decorated the Common Room for her and everything!"

"Well if you ask me, she didn't seem to like that too much." Piped up Peter.

"Nobody did ask you." I said coldly. "Anyways lets just stop talking about Lily for a little while. Please?"

I looked around at all my friends, who nodded. "Full moons coming up." Said Sirius with a grin.

I silently thanked him and we moved on to discuss our upcoming excursion.

/-o0o-/

Remus fixed my leg in the hall after History of Magic class. It felt a little funny at first, but it's good now. It's nice having bookworm friends.

Anyways, I was hanging out in the common room with Sirius (We were playing exploding snap with some of Professor Trelawney's divination cards. It was turning out to be quite entertaining actually, watching as the pictures shrieked and ran for cover every time their card exploded.) when this scrawny looking first year comes up and pokes Padfoot in the gut. "What the-" he turned around with his wand raised, ready for a full on duel, and then saw who it was and lowered his wand. "What is it?"

The kid just gulped and shoved a piece of parchment in Sirius's lap, then took off. Sirius unfurled the message and groaned. "Blimey, I'd forgotten. I've got detention with Slughorn."

"What for?" I asked disappointed.

"Don't you remember last Wednesday, I blew up Avory's cauldron."

I smirked. "Oh yeah, and he got those giant, pus filled boils all over his face!"

"Wonder if he's still in the hospital wing?" said Sirius wistfully.

I thought back to my visit to the hospital wing two days prior. "Nah, I didn't see him there the other day."

"Too bad." Said Sirius, getting up and stretching, "Anyways I gotta go. See you later."

I watched him leave and then started picking up the shredded contents of our game. No use playing it now that Sirius was gone. I decided to go find Remus. The library seemed the most likely place so I picked myself up and headed towards the portrait hole, stopping only to pick up my bag in case he was doing homework or something. Maybe he'd help me with (AKA let me copy) that Vampire essay due tomorrow.

When I got to the library it only took a quick sweep through to know Remus wasn't there. Ahh well. I trudged over to a table in the far corner and took out my mirror. "Sirius." I said quickly.

His face instantly appeared inside. "Hey Prongs," he said in a very high-pitched, girlie sounding voice.

"Padfoot what happened to your voice?"

"Slughorn's having me inflate balloons for his next party." Said Sirius squeakily, answering my question.

"Oh. Well I guess I'll leave you to it then."

"Sure Prongs. Later."

I heard several loud pops in the background. "Shit!" said Sirius shrilly before disappearing from view.

I chuckled quietly and shoved the mirror back into my pocket. So what to do now? I'd been meaning to read that chapter about chaser formations in _Quidditch Through the Ages_, now didn't seem like a bad time to do it.

I got up, grabbed the book off the shelf and settled myself into one of the more comfortable wooden chairs. I began to read; it was incredibly dull. Let me tell you: I love quidditch, it's the best sport there is, but putting it in a book just sucks all the excitement out of it, and quidditch is nothing if not exciting.

_The Arrowhead is one of the most diversely spread moves throughout this century. It involves all three chasers lining up in a V-like formation, with the beaters at the flanks so as to protect the chasers from oncoming bludgers. The lead chaser has the quaffle to begin with, but quickly passes it on to an open teammate who shoots and presumably scores. This move was used by the Whouborn Whasps in 1853 in their game against the Harpies in which…_

I yawned tiredly and continued reading.

_They won 210-30. It is believe to date back to as early as the 16__th__ century. In which Sir Glendal Wilhelm II surreptitiously created this move, and decided to test it out on a team of trained house-elves. He found that his creation worked brilliantly given the right conditions and proceeded to record his findings in his autobiography entitled __Sir Glendal Wilhelm II on Wizardry and Quidditch__. For a complete list of his works and experiments turn to page 817 in the index…_

My eyelids felt heavy and my breathing became steady. Suddenly all the exhaustion of the day came crashing over me and I closed my eyes. It would only be for a few minutes, just a few minutes and I would wake…

/-o0o-/

When I opened my eyes I found myself slumped against the chair, an open book at my lap. I could see my bag a few feet away from me by the flickering light of the candles lining the wall. I looked down at my watch. It read 1:30 on Wednesday morning. Yeah, I'd overslept.

I slowly got to my feet and stretched. "Lumos." I muttered. My wand-tip ignited and I snatched up my bag and made my way towards the exit of the library. I almost got to the hallway before I noticed something against the bookshelf closest to the door. It seemed to be stirring slightly. I tiptoed over to get a better look.

Whatever it was was situated behind a mound of stacked textbooks. I peered over the pile and raised my wand.

It was Lily! Holy Mother of Merlin! I was so startled I almost dropped my wand. What the hell was she doing in the library at one-thirty in the morning?

On closer inspection I realized she was sleeping. She looked so adorable like that, with her lovely mouth opened slightly, and her chest rising and falling in peaceful breaths. She was slouched over what appeared to be a half finished star map. She probably fell asleep working on it just like me.

I reached forward tentatively and slipped a stray lock of her beautiful red hair behind her ear. She didn't stir. Suddenly Moony's words from yesterday morning came rushing back to me. "_Maybe you could try being nice for a change. Nice for a change. Nice for a change._"

I sighed; I was exhausted. Right about now my nice, warm, four-poster bed in the Gryffindor dormitory was starting to sound pretty inviting. I wanted to just leave her and go to bed, but I couldn't. And I couldn't wake her either, she'd probably hex the crap out of me.

Gently I lifted her head and inched her body off the parchment. She probably had about fifty or so stars left to label. Sighing I pulled up a chair and set to work on Lily's homework, it was going to be a long night.

/-o0o-/

When I woke up I knew something was wrong right off. Why wasn't I in my bed? I blinked blearily and suddenly the library came into sharp focus. The library? Wait? Why was I in the library?

I heard a bell sound somewhere off in the distance. I looked at the clock hanging on the far wall, it read 8:30. Shoot. That was the first bell. Breakfast was over and classes had begun.

_"And I didn't even finish my homework!" _I realized with a start. I couldn't miss a class, I was head girl, but I couldn't not turn in my homework either.

I began gathering my things hurriedly; I glanced wistfully at my half finished star chart as I went to roll it up. Wait a second…

On closer inspection I realized that the star chart was done. But I didn't do it…

Stuck to the bottom of the chart was a sticky note. I pulled it off and read: _Will you go out with me?_

I sighed exasperatedly and crumpled the note into a little ball. Nice try Potter.

The warning bell sounded and I scrambled to shove my things into my bag and get to class. I passed by a mirror in the corridor and stopped for a millisecond to look. My hair was a bit tangled but my make-up wasn't smeared and my clothes looked all right. (I silently thanked God for school uniforms. At least no one would notice I was wearing the same clothes as the day before.)

As I hurried to the second floor landing (I had charms first.) I shook my head form side to side to clear it. Potter was in this class. Doubtless he'd want me to return the favor somehow. _He'll probably ask me out again._ I thought sadly, _And again, and again and again. _I giggled to myself. He was like a five year old.

_A five year old that can do your NEWT homework. _I thought. I didn't want to admit it. I really didn't- but even though my mind body, and soul screamed in protest, I was just the teeniest bit grateful for Potter. Just a little. What he did was almost… How can I put it? _Sweet._ And that idea repulsed me. James Potter was not sweet. He was arrogant and pigheaded and mean. He wasn't supposed to be nice to me. How could I hate him when he did my homework for me? I _wanted _to hate him. So why was that so hard?


	10. Plan J

_A/N: This chapter has a very odd format, as you'll see in a minute, so hopefully you'll be able to make sense of it. If not, I'm sorry, I just wanted to try something a little different for one chapter. _

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Plan J: The Song

Lily walked into Charms class about five minutes late, looking stunningly gorgeous as always. Flitwick looked like he was about to say something but decided against it. I guess Lily's reputation was too good. If it had been me or Sirius, we would have gotten points deducted at the very least.

She took her a seat in between Mary and Alice, right in front of me, flicking her hair back lazily as she sat down. Did I mention how much I love her hair? It's this beautiful red color and when it hits the light it just shines. I wanted so bad to just reach out and stroke it. She was only sitting about two feet away from me, I could have managed if I leaned over a bit, but I refrained. She'd probably hex my fingers off.

The lesson wore on and on. About five minutes into it I gave up paying attention and instead decided to study the back of Lily's head. She had a pretty little head, and nice shoulders too. I wondered what it would be like to put an arm around those shoulders, to stroke her long, silky, flowing hair, to hold her close, to listen to her voice when she wasn't livid, to trace those soft, beautiful lips with my finger, to bring her lovely face up to mine, to kiss her…

"Yoo-hoo! Earth to Prongs!" came Sirius's voice.

I looked up quickly to see Sirius looking at me concernedly. "You were drooling on your parchment mate, just thought I'd let you know." He said amusedly.

My face reddened. "I had a late night!" I snapped.

"I know." He said, "I heard you come in at like three in the morning. What were you doing homework or something?" he joked.

"In a sense, yes." I stated.

His jaw dropped as he feigned shock, "You did what!?"

Just then the bell rang and Flitwick dismissed the class. "I'll explain later." I said before grabbing my bag and heading for the door.

I got there just as Lily did and almost collided with her. "Ladies first." I said, stepping to the side.

She looked confused but just went with it. "Thanks James." She said quietly, before rushing off to her next class.

/-o0o-/

I sat down between Remus and Sirius in History of Magic class a few minutes later. I'm sure my face must have looked incredibly comical, but I just couldn't help but smile. She'd called me _James_! _James. _Not Potter. Not scumbag. Not git, or idiot, or jerk, or sleaze, but James. My actual name! For the first time in my living memory. Now if that can't put a smile on a man's face I don't know what can.

About five minutes into class Sirius nudged me and pointed to his parchment. I squinted to see what he had written. It had become kind of a ritual for us to pass notes in History of Magic class. Of course Remus hated this, but he always agreed to give us his notes before a big test so as far as we were concerned, everything was all set.

_So what __**where**__ you doing last night?_ Read the parchment.

I sighed and wrote my own message, _Homework. Lily's homework actually._

_You were with Lily!? _

I shrugged and wrote back. _In a sense, yes. _

_Enough with the cryptic answers Prongs. Just tell me what happened._

_Ok well…_ I stopped to think for a second and then wrote, _I sort of fell asleep in the library, see I was reading this book-_

Sirius snorted. I elbowed him.

_As I was saying… I woke up at like one and I found Lily there too. Asleep._

_YOU SLEPT WITH LILY!_

_No idiot. She fell asleep doing homework and she wasn't done so I finished it for her._

_Oh. Wow Prongs, that's almost…sentimental. You feeling ok?_

_Fine. Brilliant actually. Remus was right._

_About what?_

_About being nice to Lily, she called me James today._

_So?_

_She's never called me James. Ever. Since now that is._

I continued smiling manically. Sirius nudged me again. I inclined my head and read: _You reckon if I set off a firecracker Binns would notice?_

_Probably not. But Lily would. _

_Too bad. _

_You know, I think I'm going to try doing something nice for Lily again. It seemed to work the first time at any rate._

_Well have fun with that. I can't help you there. Now if you wanted to prank her…_

_I think I'll sing her a song._

Sirius fake gagged. _Trust me Prongs. You do __**not**__ want to do that._

_Why not? _I asked offended.

_I've heard you sing. And it aint pretty. _

_When did you ever hear me sing?_

_Hmmmm… I think it was that time we snuck down to Hogemeade and you practically drank your weight in firewhiskey._

_Yeah well… I was drunk. That doesn't count. _

_Well what about that time I caught you singing in the shower?_

_Well… It can't be that bad. _

_It is._

_Is not._

Sirius sighed dramatically. _Prongs my friend… I'll put it like this: If you sang in the West tower you'd break every window in the place. That's how bad you are._

I crumpled up the parchment and threw it at him. He ducked and it hit Lily instead. She turned around and saw me, throwing me one of her death glares. I just smiled and winked. She rolled her eyes and went back to taking notes. Smooth Prongs. Real smooth.

/-o0o-/

I stayed up late doing homework tonight as usual. By the time I was just about done, pretty much everyone had left the common room. I looked around. It was just me and those Marauder idiots. _Fantastic. _

But even they were getting tired, it seemed. One by one they made their way off to their dormitory until it was just me and Potter. _Brilliant. Just bloody brilliant._

Potter came over, pulled up a chair and sat down. "You almost done?" he asked.

"Why do you care?" I said as menacingly as possible.

"No reason." He said mysteriously.

I just rolled my eyes and shrugged him off. A few minutes later he was still sitting there, watching me study. I could feel his eyes on the back of my head. It sent shivers up my spine that had nothing to do with the temperature. "Why," I said finally, having lost all my patience, "Are you staring at me?"

"I'm not staring at you." James retorted. "I'm sitting. Is that a federal crime all of a sudden?"

"No." I said.

"That was a rhetorical question."

"I don't care. Go away." I shot him one of my death glares.

He flinched a bit but quickly recovered his composure. "Not just yet Lily." He said, "I have something for you."

_Oh God no. _I did not want another birthday episode. "I don't want it." I said flatly.

"You don't have a choice." He replied, just as evenly.

"You can't make me take something I don't want from you." I said.

"Well it's not a _thing_ per say. It's more or less from the heart."

I snorted. "Potter, when are you going to learn that your pathetic little pick-up lines don't work on me!"

"That wasn't a pick-up line!" He cried.

"Then what was it?"

"Pretty lame actually." He said offhandedly.

"Wow, that's the first sensible thing to come out of your mouth all night!"

James shook his head and bent down to retrieve something in his bag. He pulled out a small, muggle boombox. _Uh-ohh…This did not bode well._

"And now Lily flower!" he said with a pathetic attempt at bravado, "I'm going to sing to you!"

"Absolutely not." I said vehemently. I went to stand up, but found to my shock and horror that I couldn't.

I was stuck to the chair! "Potter!" I cried.

"It's just a sticking charm Lily." He said nervously. Upon seeing the outraged look on my face he added, "Not permanent. Don't worry. I'll let you go as soon as you listen to my song."

"Potter I'm going to kill you." I hissed, reaching in my robe pocket for my wand. It wasn't there.

I looked up to see Potter twisting my wand in his fingers. "I'll give it back." He said at an attempt at reassurance, "As soon as the song is done, I'll give it back!"

"You'd better." I threatened.

"Yes and maybe I should have a security troll guarding me when I do. So anyways, on with the show."

He hit a button on the boombox and the music filled the room. I stiffened. This was one of my favorite songs.

James began the first verse with a quavering voice,

_Beauty queen of only eighteen  
She had some trouble with herself  
He was always there to help her  
She always belonged to someone else_

_I drove for miles and miles  
And wound up at your door  
I've had you so many times but somehow  
I want more_

His voice cracked painfully on the last note. I buried my face in my hands. He was a horrible singer. His voice was completely off pitch and out of tune, and he was butchering such a beautiful song too. He kept going. I cringed.

_I don't mind spending everyday  
Out on your corner in the pouring rain  
Look for the girl with the broken smile  
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile  
And she will be loved  
She will be loved_

He was walking around in circles and waving his arms in a most peculiar manner. It looked like he was signaling an SOS or something. He turned towards me and continued singing, an invisible microphone in hand.

_Tap on my window knock on my door  
I want to make you feel beautiful  
I know I tend to get so insecure  
It doesn't matter anymore_

_It's not always rainbows and butterflies  
It's compromise that moves us along, yeah  
My heart is full and my door's always open  
You can come anytime you want_

He was gaining confidence by the minute. His singing was horrendous, but he seemed to mistake my look of pure hate as encouragement. He was swaying his hips in time with the music and when a short instrumental break came in, he took that as an opportunity to spin around and jump in the air, staggering slightly as he hit the ground. It was all just so horribly, painstakingly, earsplitting funny. I laughed.

I think he took my amusement as encouragement because he belted out the chorus even louder than before. Unfortunately that didn't mean his singing improved in the slightest.

_I don't mind spending everyday  
Out on your corner in the pouring rain  
Look for the girl with the broken smile  
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile  
And she will be loved  
And she will be loved  
And she will be loved  
And she will be loved_

I was in hysterics by this time. I couldn't have stopped laughing if I wanted. Not that I did, laughing at Potter was fun. His singing was painful, yes, his dancing was equally as horrendous, true, his little kid-in-a-candy-store smirk was appalling, but quite honestly, I was enjoying this. He kept singing. I kept laughing.

_I know where you hide  
Alone in your car  
Know all of the things that make you who you are  
I know that goodbye means nothing at all  
Comes back and begs me to catch her every time she falls_

_Tap on my window knock on my door  
I want to make you feel beautiful_

My eyes were streaming with tears of mirth. He kept on singing and singing in that high-pitched, girlie-sounding voice and I kept on cracking up. It was infectious. Without consciously realizing it I joined in with him in the last verse.

_I don't mind spending everyday  
Out on your corner in the pouring rain  
Look for the girl with the broken smile  
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile  
And she will be loved  
And she will be loved  
And she will be loved  
And she will be loved_

As the song drew to a close he kneeled down and spread his arms out wide. He drew out the last note as long as he could, his face turning brick-red in an effort to keep from breathing. He sounded like a mermaid out of water. When the song was finished he stood up and took a deep bow. I nearly toppled out of my chair laughing, except that I was charmed to the seat.

It took me a long time to calm down after that. Once I get started laughing there's no stopping me. James just stood there patiently, looking bemused. Finally I managed to choke out a coherent sentence, "James that was- horrible!" I sputtered.

He smirked at me and drew his wand. I felt the chair detach itself from me. Then he thrust my wand into my outstretched palm and ran for it. Hehe. Smart kid.

_

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A/N: So yeah. I've never done anything that even remotely resembled a songfic before, so this might have turned out to be an absolute disaster. I don't know. Tell me what you think if you have a few spare seconds. Ciao!


	11. Plan K

_A/N: A lot of you might be mad at me after this chapter. It is not light and fluffy like everything else I've written so far, but hopefully it'll still turn out ok. So anywho, on with the story..._

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Plan K: First Kiss

The rest of the week went by quickly enough. I trained my team long and hard. Our match against Hufflepuff was coming up in a few weeks, so we still had to keep on our toes. I trained them so hard in fact, that I heard a few mumbled curses aimed in my direction as we left the pitch at nine o'clock on Saturday night. That's what I like to see! I would have kept them going all night but curfew was at nine thirty on Saturday and I was sure an entire quidditch team flying around the pitch would not go unnoticed.

I didn't talk to Lily much. Just a few hi's and bye's in the hallway, which of course she didn't return. We seemed to have reached a silent agreement about the whole singing situation. She wouldn't say a word about it and neither would I. I ended up tape recording myself last night to prove Sirius wrong, but when I played it back I had to admit that it didn't sound too good. If it were a contest between me and a hag with tonsillitis, the hag would win. That's how bad it was.

I've been thinking about it a bit, and I've come up with an ingenious new plan to get Lily to go out with me. I call it Plan K. And yes, I know it's pathetic but I've been keeping track. My plan: Ask Sirius. Merlin knows he's been with more girls than a horny hipogriff.

"So Padfoot…" I began, early Monday morning as we made our way to Divination, "What'd you reckon I should do about Lily?"

He snorted. "Keep me out of it."

"No seriously. I've been nice to her and I think it's working. I was thinking maybe I'll get her a pet. A cat or something. I-"

Sirius cut me off with a sweep of his hand. "No." he said simply, "You've gone far enough with this pleasant little helper crap. She's gonna get the wrong idea."

"What'd you mean?"

"I mean, she's going to think you want to be her friend." He said sternly.

"Well what's wrong with that? At least she won't hate-"

"What's wrong with that, Prongs! I'll tell you what's wrong with that. She's going to think that's all you want. Before long you two will be braiding each other's hair! You've got to make your intentions clear or she's going to get the wrong message!"

"Well how do I give her the right message then, Einstein?"

He pretended to ponder this and scratched his head, "Hmmm…. Well I dunno. Why don't you snog her?"

"But Sirius, I can't just walk up to her and do that!"

"Well why not, I do it all the time?"

"Yeah well, that's because you're you, and you couldn't care less about a relationship. I don't want Lily to hate me. And besides she's already threatened to curse my nads off once."

"Oh poor Prongs. He's scared of a girl."

"I am not." I said through clenched teach. "I'm just wary to approach her, that's all."

He just laughed as we ascended the ladder that led to the musty divination room. "Sure Prongs. Sure."

I knew Lily had Head Girl duties tonight. Every week she had to patrol the corridors just after lights out to make sure no one was out of bed. To catch her then would be ideal. It would be easy to sneak up on her in the dark and no one would see us. _Yes, _I thought to myself, _Tonight's the night Lily will finally realize her feelings for me. With as little bloodshed as possible. _Or so I hoped.

/-o0o-/

"Potter what the hell!?" I cried as he slammed me against the wall. "Get off me you-"

But that's as far as I got before he brought his lips crashing down on mine and silenced me. And then he was kissing me. Kissing me with this feverish passion, demanding and gentle at the same time. His mouth, his kiss, his touch were intoxicating. His hands were pinning mine to the wall but they soon traveled upwards and became entangled in my hair.

I should have shoved him off then but my arms just hung limp by my side. I was stunned, but at the same time I wanted to succumb to the pressure. I wanted to kiss Potter back the way he was now kissing me, with that fiery passion and eagerness.

The kiss grew more pronounced and he started prodding my mouth determinedly with his tongue, trying to gain access. _Oh god no…_ I thought anxiously. I wanted this so bad. Wanted him so bad. But he was Potter. Potter. I couldn't just give in like this. I had to fight I had to-

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER FREAK!" I heard form down the hall.

I dully registered a flash of green light and then I felt James's arms fall limp and detach themselves from me. In my frenzied state of mind I saw blood, lots of it. On my robes, on the ground. On Potter. Oh God no James! He was lying on the floor writhing in pain, blood spewing out of what seemed like every inch of his body.

And there was none other than Severus Snape, standing at the end of the hall with his wand outstretched. "Sev!" I called desperately, "Stop it! Stop it Sev! You're gonna kill him! He's gonna die!"

Tears poared down my face. "HELP!" I yelled, "SOMEONE HELP PLEASE!"

I looked at Severus for a split second. He had lowered his wand and was standing there, looking down on what he had done, a horrible, sickly shocked expression on his face. Like he couldn't believe what had came out of the end of his wand.

I remember hurried footsteps after that. And then Profesor Dumbledore appeared and I thanked the heavens as he quickly took stock of the situation, whipped out his wand and the bleeding stopped. He conjured a stretcher in midair, magicked James onto it and the thing shot off down the hall. He followed it briskly, leaving me and Severus alone in the hall.

Neither of us moved or spoke a word. Gradually the tears subsided and I glared at Severus instead. He quickly looked away, spotted more blood and turned a delicate shade of green.

A few minutes later Professor Mcgonagall appeared and led us into Dumbledore's office. I followed her silently and Severus did the same. When we go into the office I sat down in one of his spindly-legged chairs and buried my face in my hands. _It was all my fault. Potter was going to die and it was my fault. I should have just told him to stop, but no. I had to submit to my stupid teenage hormones and let him kiss me. _

The minutes ticked by. Every second felt like an hour. Every minute an eternity. I had to know if he was ok. He just had to be ok. He had to be.

Professor Mcgonagall came over and put a hand on my shoulder. I didn't look up but I could tell it was her by the click of her heels on the hard wood floor. I sat there forever, just staring into my palms, completely hating myself. At long last I heard the door open and I lifted my tear-stained face to see none other than Albus Dumbledore standing before me. "He's going to be ok." He said calmly.

Releif flooded every vein in my body. I sighed and let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. "He'll be in the hospital wing for a while but Poppy expects him to make a full recovery."

Tears of joy streamed down my face. "Now, now, Ms. Evans." Said Dumbledore soothingly, "It's ok. He's going to be just fine. You can visit him tomorrow if you want."

I nodded my head and wiped the tears from my eyes with my sleeve. I think Professor Mcgonagall took pity on me because she conjured up a box of tissues and handed them to me. I silently thanked her and blew my nose.

Dumbledore drew a chair and sat down. Professor Mcgonagall did the same. "Now I'm going to need the full story, Ms. Evans and Mr. Snape." Said Dumbledore once I had calmed down a bit." He looked at Severus. "I saw you brandishing a wand at James. I saw Lily huddled in a corner screaming, and James sprawled on the floor. Would you care to explain that for me?"

Snape cleared his throat and spoke for the first time. "You see, Professor, I just kind of overreacted when I saw the Potter kid sucking Lily's face off." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at this but he continued, "So I hexed him. I didn't mean to. I didn't even realize I'd drawn my wand and then he was on the floor bleeding and Lily was screaming her head off and I didn't know what to do and I… and I…" he trailed off, voice quavering.

"Enough Mr. Snape." Said Dumbledore steadily, "The spell you performed is not one I'm familiar with. It's obviously dark magic and Mr. Potter was very lucky I showed up when I did or he could have had some serious and irreversible damage done. As it is he'll probably have a few scars. Hopefully his girlfriend will still find him attractive. Eh?"

He inclined his head in my direction. I caught his meaning. "Oh no. I'm not his girlfriend." I stammered.

"Then why were you kissing him?"

"He kissed me. Professor." I said, thinking it odd to be talking about this with my headmaster, "But I…But I…"

And suddenly all the nights events came back to me in a rush and I started sobbing all over again. "It's all my f-fault professor. I shouldn't have let him. I sh-should have just pushed him off. B-but I didn't and now he's hurt. All because of m-m-me. And I-"

Dumbledore put up his hand to silence me. "That's quite enough." He said sternly but kindly.

I ceased blubbering. "Now Minerva, kindly take Mrs. Evans to her dormitory and give her something to calm her if she needs it."

Professor Mcgonagall took my arm and gently pulled me up and steered me towards the door. I glanced at Severus attempting to follow but Dumbledore stopped him, "I'll be having a word with you Severus."

Severus reluctantly sat back down. The rest of the night went by in a blur. I dimly remember being hurried through the dark, empty halls and then Professor Mcgonagall taking me into my dormitory. She woke up Alice and Mary and they were flipping out as expected. I guess it was the blood on my robes. Professor Mcgonagall left me with them and gave me a potion to drink when was ready to sleep.

Alice and Mary dutifully helped me to wash up and get out of my blood stained robes and into a comfortable pair of PJ's. I could tell they were dying to know what happened but thankfully they didn't ask. Instead Alice all but forced the potion down my throat and I was barely able to thank them before I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

_

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A/N: I know Lily might have seemed a little out of character during this whole chapter, but I was trying to get across that she was in shock. I'm not entirely sure how this chapter is going to go over, since I've never written anything other than humor and fluff, so if you have any comments I'd love to hear them.


	12. Plan L

_A/N: Sorry it took me so long to write this chap, but it's summer so I've been pretty busy. I know that's not much of an excuse but it's all I've got. _

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Plan L: Biding my Time

I woke up the next morning and shook my head groggily. The night's events all took place so fast they seemed like nothing more than a blurry dream. However, as I stood up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes it all came back to me in a rush with such clarity that I staggered, clutching the bedpost for support. My first thought: _I had to go see Potter._

"Oh look, sleeping beauty's up." Came Mary's sarcastic voice from across the room.

"Morning." I mumbled, I was never much of a morning person but this one just took the cake. I stole a glance at my watch.

"Oh my Gosh! Mary we're half an hour late for Herbology!"

She snorted. "Look out your window."

I did. It was pouring. "Herbology was cancelled. So was Care of Magical Creatures. We've got the morning free." Said Alice cheerfully.

"Awesome." I said, hurrying to get dressed. "You should have gotten me up earlier."

"Why? You had a rough night." Said Alice.

"What happened anyways? Sirius said James is in the hospital wing." She looked puzzled and then her face lit up, "Aha! You were with him, weren't you!"

"Yeah I was. He's really hurt. I have to go see him." I said hurriedly, pulling my hair into a ponytail and shoving on my shoes. "I'll see you two in Potions."

And with that I left them standing there, gaping at me as I took my leave.

As I neared the hospital wing I stopped for a moment to compose myself. I definitely didn't want Potter to know that I'd just run all the way here. It wouldn't do to inflate that already oversized head even more. So I came to a halt in front of the double mahogany doors and took a deep breath. _Knowing Potter, this could be awkward._ I gently pushed the door open, it swung wide and I stepped inside.

I spotted his bed immediately. It was hard to miss with all his friends crowding around it, pigging out on Bertie Botts Every Flavor beans and cracking up at Sirius's lame jokes. When they heard me come in they stilled however, and moved away from James' bed so I could get a good look at him.

He looked okay for the most part. Much better than he had last night. A little pale, but that was to be expected, and he seemed to be feeling well enough to sit up, because he was propped up on a stack of pillows. He had plenty of scars all over his face and arms, making his skin appear blotchy, and when he tried to laugh at Sirius's joke all that came out was a loud, throaty, painful-sounding cough.

"Lily…" he croaked, when he saw me.

Remus looked from me to James, who nodded at him. Without a word he grabbed Sirius and Peter and dragged them out of the ward, but not before they nabbed another bag of candy.

"James…" I said uncertainly, hovering at the foot of his bed.

He patted a place next to him and I reluctantly sat down. "You ok?" I asked lamely. I mentally berated myself. _Of course he wasn't ok. He just got attacked by dark sorcery, how could he be?_

"Yeah." He sighed.

We sat there in silence for awhile. I really wasn't sure what to say to him. I felt I should say something, after all, for the first time in his life it wasn't his own fault he ended up here. But I couldn't think of anything consoling to say to an egocentric, stalking, womanizing pig who ambushed me last night and then got attacked by my former best friend, so I just kept my mouth shut.

"Seems like we've been here before, doesn't it?" said Potter, bravely attempting to strike up conversation, "It's like deja vu or something."

"Yeah," I said, chuckling a bit, "It always seems like it's you getting injured though."

"That's ok. I'd rather it be me than you, Lily-flower."

And the way he said that, so simply and unselfish, it just brought the guilt from last night raining down on my shoulders once again. "Oh James I'm so sorry." I gulped, "It's all my fault. It really is. I should have just pushed you off but I didn't and now you're hurt and I can't believe what happened to you. I never thought Severus would do such a thing. Sure he's a stuck up half-blood and a pervert, but this? I never imagined anything like it. I'm so sorry…"

He let me talk until I'd finished. I didn't cry this time, but I still felt horrible. "Lily," he said, "I don't blame you. I blame Snivillus. He's the one who cursed me, not you. So stop feeling guilty. It's not your fault."

I just nodded. "And Lily, I've been thinking and I really think you should give me an answer now. A real answer. Will you go out with me?"

I snorted. "And now I know you're back to normal."

I started to laugh but then I caught a glance at his face, and realized he was completely serious. "Oh James, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry Lily. It's not your fault."

"No not about that. About us."

"There's an us?" he asked hopefully.

"Well no, that's the problem, there isn't. At least there shouldn't be. This," I gestured to the hospital bed, "Is what would happen if we ever got together. I'd probably murder you in your sleep, or vice versa."

This got a small chuckle out of him, but it seemed forced. His eyes were downcast as he asked, "So that's a no?"

"Correct." I said, "I really think you should move on. We've caused enough trouble as it is. Go find yourself a nice girl who doesn't want to curse your sorry ass every second of every day."

He just nodded, not quite meeting me in the eye. "So this is it then." He croaked.

"This is it." I repeated.

"So I'll see ya 'round then Lily."

"Sure James." I got up to leave, and noticed a few get-well cards at his bedpost. "I should have made you one of those." I said. "Sorry. I just wanted to get here as soon as I could to make sure you were alright"

"It's ok. I'm fine." He said again. But somehow I didn't think he meant it this time.

/-o0o-/

_So this was it_, I thought as I watched Lily leave the ward grimly. Although I was glad that she'd come to see me, her last words had stung much more than the blast from Severus' wand. She really didn't want to go out with me. Even after I'd poured my heart out in that kiss. Even after she'd sobbed over my lifeless form in the hall, even after all I'd done for her, she still didn't want to go out with me. I'd just have to leave her alone and give her some space for awhile. I wasn't giving up. James Potter never gives up. I was just biding my time. I'd let her come to me next time. I would wait. And that's exactly what I did.

Gradually the days rolled by, and then the days turned to weeks and the weeks to months. During this time I kept my team practicing at every spare moment I could. We were in peak physical condition, and our moves had never been executed better. It paid off too. We won our match against Hufflepuff and now were preparing for the match against Slytherin. This was going to be a tough one. The Slytherin captain, Blaise, had somehow managed to muster a pretty good team. Although many of them were too stupid to tell one end of a broomstick from the other, they were still pretty strong and fast. It would be an interesting match.

I hardly ever spoke to Lily. She seemed to be trying to ignore me, so I just let her. I didn't date anyone else though. I wanted to be available just in case. Sirius, however went through about ten girls over the past two months. His current girlfriend: Mary, Lily's friend. He'd been going out with her for about two weeks so far. I was actually surprised, this was like a record for him. From Mary's update's, I figured Lily was doing just fine without me. For some reason this only succeeded in making me thoroughly miserable.

So we verse Slyhterin next week. I think my team is ready for it. Hey, you never know. Maybe if we win, the after match euphoria will catch up with Lily, and she might actually talk to me again. I don't have much hope of that, but I'll cross my fingers anyways.

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A/N: I know this was kind of a depressing chapter, but I think the next one is going to be much more light and fun. R&R if you have a few spare seconds.


	13. Plan M

_A/N: Honestly, this chapter isn't that interesting. I was going to add more to it, but it was getting too long, so I'll put the rest in the next chapter._

_Happy 4th of July to all my American readers!_ _My dog is completely freaking out right now because people keep lighting off fireworks in their backyards and she hates the noise. That was random but whatever. _

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Plan M: The Game

"Wake up sleepyhead!" called Mary, lobbing a pillow at my head.

I just pushed the pillow off and rolled over. "Today's the day!" she exclaimed excitedly, "The big game Lily! We're gonna crush Slytherin!"

"Mhhhhmughmph." I mumbled.

"Oh c'mon Lily. It's almost eight."

"It's Saturday."

"I don't care. Get up."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

With a flick of her wand I was sprawled out on the floor. I picked myself up slowly, and turned to see Mary bobbing up and down in excitement, her auburn curls flouncing in all directions. "You really didn't have to do that." I sent one of my death glares at her. She smiled cheekily back at me.

"Yes I did. Let's go, I want to wish James good luck."

"No you don't. You just want to go snog Sirius."

Mary shrugged "That too. Get dressed and let's go."

"You can keep me out of it. I want to sleep."

"Aren't you going to the game?"

"Of course. But if you leave now I'll still be able to get some more sleep." I know I was being a bit curt, but I was always crabby in the morning, and it was her fault for crossing me in the first place.

"Nope. You're getting up now or I'm going to make you hook up with Chris."

I groaned. She'd been on me about that for a full month now. I hadn't dated anyone in a few months, not since the "Potter" incident to be precise. I was Chris Lamar's tutor. He wasn't exactly that dumb though. I got the feeling he was only feigning stupidity to be with me. He loved to drop his pencil and ask me to get it so he could get a good look at my ass. Or he'd try to look down my shirt and say he was just reaching for the inkwell or something. He really got on my nerves. He tried to be sweet sometimes by bringing me gifts and stuff, but afterwards he would "accidentally on purpose" bump into me in the hallway, or something of that nature. It always came with a price.

I'd actually caught myself thinking wistfully about Potter. Sure he was a womanizing bastard, but at least he was a bit more creative than this guy. Or at least he used to be. To be honest, I hadn't really talked to Potter since I turned him down in the hospital wing. I think he was avoiding me, so I just went along with it. I didn't really miss the constant stream of pick-up lines, after all, I had Chris for that now. He hadn't actually asked me out yet, but I had a feeling he would. And I was fully ready to turn him down, with as much force as I'd used on Potter, if not more.

"Earth to Lily…" Mary's voice snapped me out of my reverie.

"Hmmm." I said.

"You were thinking about Chris, we're you?"

"No I wasn't actually." I lied calmly, "Wait, where's Alice?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"With Frank." Said Mary exasperatedly. "Actually, I'm not sure if she came back to the dormitory last night, I'll have to ask her how it went." She said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Good." I said quickly, "Go find Alice. Get all the juicy details. Just leave me alone."

Mary looked torn. "You promise you'll meet us for breakfast?"

"Sure whatever." I said. I was already awake after all.

"Ok. See you then." With one last furtive look, Mary skipped out of the room.

I smiled to myself. She cracked me up sometimes. I know it was kind of mean to just sick her on Alice, but I also knew she wouldn't get much off her anyways. Alice was very quiet and reserved. The complete opposite of Mary, who was always bubbly and enthusiastic about everything. Sometimes a bit _too_ enthusiastic.

/-o0o-/

So I was sitting at breakfast with Sirius and Peter, psyching myself up for the upcoming match, when out of the blue Chris Lamar comes over and sits down next to me. Man, I hate that kid, he's always trying to make a move on Lily, it's sick. If I was feeling up to it I would have pranked him half to death, but I hadn't actually pulled a prank on anyone in months. Not since the whole "Lily" scene anyways.

He grabbed a plate of eggs and started digging in. "You eating here?" I asked, raising an eyebrow incredulously.

"Sure looks like it." He said cockily. God, I hate his cockiness.

I glared at him, but I don't think he got the hint. "So," he said, his face stuffed with scrambled eggs, "I'm thinking of asking Lily out."

I clenched and unclenched my fist. _Control yourself, you don't want a fight to ruin your chances against Slytherin. _He kept talking, "And I need your advice."

"Owwww!" I cried out as my kneecap collided painfully with the tabletop.

"You ok there Prongs?" asked Sirius, looking up from his catalogue of Zonko's. products.

"I'm fine." I said quickly, then I turned to Chris Lamar, "Man, the only advice I can give you is to wear a helmet and a bullet-proof suit, because she-is-going-to-hex-the-crap-out-of-you." I grinned at his alarmed face, and then kept going, "Oh, and if you bring her a gift, make sure it's flowers or something soft, because she'll probably end up throwing it at you."

"Gee thanks Potter. But I think I'll stick to my original plan." He sneered.

"Yeah, and what's that?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even.

"Oh, she'll see when she comes to tutor me tonight." He mocked, "No more Mr. Nice guy now. No sir. Chris Lamar is in town." He swept his hand through his hair in a thoroughly overdramatic way.

Sirius glanced up once again from his magazine, I don't think he was really reading it, just watching us. "Chris," he said slowly, "That was the most pathetic thing I've ever seen, and I share a dorm with Peter."

Peter looked highly affronted. "Mghumphwithnuit." He said, his mouth stuffed with toast.

"See what I mean?" said Sirius, gesturing to Wormtail.

"Whatever,I just came over to brag anyways." Chris said.

"Brag about what?" The hairs on the back of my neck prickled, as I heard Lily's sweet voice drifting over towards me.

She sat down next to Chris and gave him a questioning look. "Nothing Babe. Just how lucky I am to have an awesome tutor like you."

He tried to put an arm around her shoulders, but I was pleased to see her give him a disgusted look and shove him off. _Hmmmm…I thought that look was reserved just for me. _

"But Lily won't be tutoring you tonight, will you Lily?" said Sirius quickly, sensing my discomfort.

Lily turned to glare at Sirius this time. It was plain she was not in a good mood this morning. "And why, exactly, is that Black?" she asked in a voice full of contempt.

"Because of the post-match blowout, that's why!" exclaimed Sirius like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well you don't necessarily know that you'll win." Said Chris.

Every head at the Marauder side of the table turned to stare at Chris. "Oh you did not just say that!" Said Sirius angrily.

"Well it's a possibility-"

"OUT!" barked Sirius, "NOW!"

Chris put up his hands in a gesture of defeat and left the table. "What happened here?" asked Mary as she walked towards the table, a thoroughly disgruntled Alice in tow.

"Nothing." Said Sirius simply, "Just banishing a bit of anti-Gryffindor vermin from our midst."

I laughed along with the rest and snuck a glance at Lily. I had to admit, she looked hot. She was wearing a low-cut red shirt, with capris and gold flip-flops. In her hair she wore red and gold ribbons to support her team, with bolstered my pride. I loved how much she cared about my team. I know she didn't like me personally, but the fact that she always came to the games and screamed her head off the entire match made me feel good. I liked to think she was cheering especially for me. It wasn't true, but I liked to think it was.

And now I had more inspiration than ever to win this match. If we won, I'm sure Lily would skip the tutoring for a night to celebrate. She had too much team spirit not to. And if we lost… Well I didn't really want to think about that. So I'm on to a new plan of action: Win the game. Slytherin'll be a piece of cake.

I'd win for her. I'd win so that she wouldn't have to meet Chris tonight and find out what he had in store for her. I'd win so that she'd see that I still cared. I'd win because, something, lying dormant deep inside me, had been triggered. It was time to go after Lily again. James Potter was back on the prowl.

/-o0o-/

As I stepped out onto the field my eardrums were cascaded by the sound of the entire student body cheering, (or in the Slytherin's case booing) my team. I looked around, the stands looked like they came right out of a Christmas card. About three-quarters of the spectators were decked in red and gold, but the Slytherins were a large mass of green and silver on the opposite end of the pitch. _We'll give you something to boo about, you snotty little brats. _I thought vehemently. I saw Madam Hooch approaching the field and before I knew it, the balls were in the air, the whistle blew and the game was on!

I put on a burst of speed and made it to the quaffle first, elbowing a large Slytherin player out of my way so that I could streak towards the goal. The Slytherin goalie, a girl actually, rather hot, blocked my feeble shot easily, but that was ok. I was just testing her. A cheer went up from the Slytherin side of the pitch but I chose to ignore it.

"…And Potter aims a rather easy shot. Seems like he's got a soft spot for the Slytherin keeper." A familiar sneering voice drifted over the field, "And he's back on Blaise's tail, Blaise with the quaffle-passes it to Smith- Smith shoots and scores! 10-zip Slytherin!"

I swore under my breath. It was one thing that we just lost a point, but quite another that Chris Lamar was commentator. _That freakin' son of a bitch! Just try to steal Lily from me, you sleazy bastard, c'mon just try. I'll gladly kick your ass any day. You're nothin' but a-_

"POTTER! WHAT THE HELL? GET A MOVE ON!" my star chaser, Creech, bellowed at me.

I started and realized I'd been hovering idle for over a minute. _Concentrate Prongs, Lily. Think Lily._

"…And it appears as if Potter has finally come to his senses. Not sure what he was doing out there, maybe he had an epiphany or something…"

_Lame joke man, _I thought grimly. I ducked and swerved and put the quaffle in, this time focusing on my rival keepers broomstick instead of her chest.

A cheer went up, this time from my side of the pitch. I stole a quick glance at the stands and noticed Lily jumping up and down and whooping for joy. That sight gave me a burst of adrenaline, and I sped forth and grabbed the quaffle back from Blaise, aimed and pelted the quaffle for all I was worth. The ball skidded across the girl's fingertips, but she missed it and it went in. The Gryffindor's cheered even louder this time, drowning out the feeble boo's from the other end of the pitch.

Creech had the quaffle now, he passed it to Monroe who tried to pass it back to Creech, but it was intercepted by a Slytherin chaser whose name I don't know. The Slyhterin chaser attempted to turn around, but was hit by a nicely aimed bludger, so he dropped the quaffle and I took it and scored.

The commentator was barely discernable over the unbelievable din of cheers. I dimly heard Lamar feebly try to call out the score once, but it was in a very half-hearted way.

I punched the air in triumph, and turned to chase after the quaffle, only to find it abandoned on the ground. My youngest player and seeker, Theodore Geoffrey, was clutching the snitch in one hand, red faced, and clutching a large bouquet of flowers in another. "Well done Theo!"I called happily as I went to join the rest of my team in a victory lap. _Take that Lamar!_

"180-10 Gryfindor." He sighed dejectedly.

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A/N: The quidditch scene was kind of short, but I'm too lazy to make it any longer. R&R if you want. The good, the bad and the ugly are all welcome.


	14. Plan N

_A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. I went on vacation with my family and there was no internet connection. I did manage to get two chapters done though, so here goes... _

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Plan N: Truth or Dare

The common room was a sea of red and gold clad people, with banners and confetti, stolen firewhisky and music, the whole nine yards. I guess I should have reported this, but I really wasn't in the mood to crush the party, so I just stole over towards Mary and Sirius and sat down next to them.

"Here Lily, try some punch." Sirius offered me a glass.

I looked at him skeptically. "What'd you spike it with?" I asked warily.

"Vodka, why?" He answered jovially, downing another glass.

"There are first years drinking that stuff!" I cried indignantly.

"Yeah so? They'll pass out soon and we'll have the common room all to ourselves."

I looked at him disgustedly. "I ought to report you."

Mary piped up, "Oh c'mon Lily. Just forget about rules and have a little fun for one night."

"But I don't want-" I spotted Chris making his way over towards me. "Never mind." I said quickly, downing half a glass in one gulp.

"Hey Lily." He said, sitting down next to me. "What's up?"

"Nothing." I stated plainly, inching a bit farther away from him. "How'd you get in here anyways, you're not a Gryffindor."

"Oh, well the Marauders are sneaking in people from other houses to make this party a bit more lively."

"Great." I said grumpily.

"Dance with me?" he offered up his arm.

"No." I said.

He looked highly affronted, "Well why not then?"

"Because I said no, that's why."

"O c'mon Lily, I don't bite."

"Chris, there is no way in hell I'm going to dance with you so go away."

"Well, what'd I do?"

I was winding myself up now. I took a deep breath and started counting down on my fingers, "Hmmmmm…. First off you're an insufferably arrogant slob…..Secondly, you have no sense of morals around woman….Third, you're a terrible commentator…..Oh yeah, and fourth, you don't support Gryffindor."

"What does it matter what team I support?"

I sighed. "It matters to me, now go away before I hex you."

"No." He retorted angrily.

I cleared my throat to speak, but Sirius beat me to the punch. "I believe the lady said to go away, so leave!" he growled menacingly.

He raised his wand and I did the same. "Fine. Fine! I'm going."

He got up and stormed away. I turned to Sirius, "I didn't need your help. I was handling him just fine without you."

"Geeze Lily. I was just trying to look out for you. That's what friends do."

"We're not friends." I said flatly.

"Whatever you say Lilykins."

/-o0o-/

The party had been going strong for a few hours, but it was now two in the morning and most of the younger students had gone to bed. All that remained were me, Sirius, Remus, a rather tipsy Peter, Lily, Mary, Alice, Frank, and a thoroughly disgruntled Chris.

"Well what'd you mean you won't go out with me?" Chris asked Lily for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"I mean no. I will not go out with you. Just accept that and move on." Said Lily impatiently. "I'll keep tutoring you if you want Chris, but we'll never be anything more than that."

"Well then I don't need you to tutor me anymore. I was only playing stupid. All I really wanted was you."

"I figured that."

"Oh yeah, well aren't you the smart one then!" Chris got to his feet a bit unsteadily, (He'd had about five glasses of the spiked punch.) and pointed a stubby finger at Lily. "This isn't the last you'll hear from me!" He grunted before sauntering towards the portrait hole, tripping halfway there, and then getting up again and stumbling out.

I snorted. "What'd you bet he can't find his common room and ends up spending the night in a closet with Mrs. Norris?"

There was a dull murmur at this. Most of the group seemed to be half asleep on their feet. "We should probably pick this up." Muttered Lily, gesturing to the trash and debris littering the floor.

She got out her wand to do it, but I grabbed her arm to stop her. "Leave it. The house elves don't talk." I said simply.

She just nodded. I think if she was more awake she would have protested about elf rights or something of that nature, but as it was she said nothing.

"So…" began Remus as an awkward silence descended upon the group. "Maybe we should just go to bed."

"No!" I said quickly, before anyone got any ideas. "We just won the cup, I'm never going to sleep a wink tonight."

"Me neither." Agreed Sirius.

"You didn't even play." Shot Mary.

"So? I don't feel like going to bed, the party ain't over yet."

"Yes it is." Said Lily tiredly. "Everyone left like half an hour ago."

I thought for a moment, what could I do to keep everyone up awhile longer? "I've got it!" I exclaimed, "Lets play truth or dare!"

"Oh c'mon Potter. What are we twelve?" said Lily, always the pessimist.

"It'll be fun. C'mon guys, what'd you say?"

"Yeah, I'm in!" said Sirius, quickly backing me.

"Yeah me too." Said Mary, coming to stand next to Sirius.

"Anyone else?" I asked hopefully.

"Sure whatever." Said Frank.

"I will if Frank does." Said Alice.

"Shurrreee I'll play t-too…" slurred Peter.

I turned to Remus. He looked unsure but nodded his assent.

That only left Lily. "Please Lilykins?" simpered Sirius.

"Don't call me that!" Lily exclaimed.

"Do it for us Lily." Said Mary.

Alice nodded in agreement. Lily bit her lip, "Fine." She said. "But this better be appropriate or I'm reporting all of you." She shot a last glare in my direction and joined our group.

We all sat down in a circle. "So I guess I'll go first." I volunteered. "Remus, truth or dare?"

He seemed to think it over. "Truth." He said finally.

"Awww you're no fun." I said, "Ok. Hmmmmmm…."

I needed to think of something that struck a chord in Moony. I thought a bit, and then it was like a light bulb went off in my head. "What's the lowest grade you've ever gotten?"

Remus paled and muttered something incomprehensible towards the ground.

"Sorry, didn't catch that." Mocked Sirius.

Remus looked dismal, "A 'T'." he muttered shamefacedly.

"What!? You?" exclaimed Mary.

Remus nodded sullenly, "It was in potions. We were supposed to be brewing the Draught of Living Death but I was allergic to one of the ingredients so I sneezed and my cauldron exploded."

"I remember that Moony!" I cried out. "Fifth year right?"

Again, he nodded. "Ok, your turn Remus." Said Frank.

Remus looked around the circle, his eyes searching, they came to rest on Mary, "Mary truth or Dare?" he asked.

"Dare." said Mary unflinching.

"Girl after my own heart." Said Sirius, kissing her briefly.

"Ok. I dare you to…. Sing the next song that comes up on this radio."

He magicked a radio out of thin air. "Ok." Said Mary.

The music drifted across the room. Mary stood up, clutching an invisible microphone and began to sing the words that had magically appeared above the antennae…

_Hurry up and wait  
So close, but so far away  
Everything that you've always dreamed of  
Close enough for you to taste  
But you just can't touch_

You wanna show the world, but no one knows your name yet  
Wonder when and where and how you're gonna make it  
You know you can if you get the chance  
In your face as the door keeps slamming  
Now you're feeling more and more frustrated  
And you're getting all kind of impatient waiting

Her voice was soft and melodic, perfectly in tune and in touch with the beat. She took a breath and plunged into the chorus…

_We live and we learn to take  
One step at a time  
There's no need to rush  
It's like learning to fly  
Or falling in love  
It's gonna happen and it's  
Supposed to happen that we  
Find the reasons why  
One step at a time_

She sang confidently, projecting each note. I was amazed. I'd never known she had it in her.

_You believe and you doubt  
You're confused, you got it all figured out  
Everything that you always wished for  
Could be yours, should be yours, would be yours  
If they only knew_

You wanna show the world, but no one knows your name yet  
Wonder when and where and how you're gonna make it  
You know you can if you get the chance  
In your face as the door keeps slamming  
Now you're feeling more and more frustrated  
And you're getting all kind of impatient waiting

_We live and we learn to take  
One step at a time  
There's no need to rush  
It's like learning to fly  
Or falling in love  
It's gonna happen and it's  
Supposed to happen that we  
Find the reasons why  
One step at a time_

I looked over at Lily. She was positively beaming at her friend. Since I was sitting right next to her I attempted to put an arm casually around her shoulder, but she just shrugged me off.

_When you can't wait any longer  
But there's no end in sight  
when you need to find the strength  
It's the faith that makes you stronger  
The only way you get there  
Is one step at a time_

She sang the chorus one last time and sat down. Lily began to applaud her and everyone else did as well. "Wow Mary…" my voice trailed off. "That was…"

"A right lot better than you could do Potter." Said Lily winking at me.

Mary blushed. Sirius leaned in for one more kiss and then she cleared her throat to speak, "So, um Alice truth or dare?"

"Truth." Said Alice automatically.

Mary smiled evilly and launched into her question without the slightest pause. "What did you and Frank do last night?"

Alice blushed prettily, "Oh well… We went out by the lake and we lay there under the stars, and well… We snuggled. It was very nice." She finished timidly.

"Is that it?" asked Mary rather disappointedly. "You didn't like 'do' anything?" she made quotation marks in the air with her fingers.

"No we didn't. Me and Frank have decided we're going to wait for our wedding night to have sex."

"Oh- Um wedding?" started Lily.

"Yes." Said Alice happily, "Me and Frank are engaged. He proposed to me last night!" she exclaimed excitedly, pulling her right hand out of her robe pocket to display a large, diamond ring.

Mary squealed excitedly and engulfed the two of them in a giant, suffocating hug. Lily looked shocked at first but quickly changed her expression to joy and smiled widely. Remus and Sirius both broke out into identical grins and patted Frank on the back. Peter looked rater dazed as if he was not sure where he was or what was happening, (alcohol didn't agree with him.) and as for my part, I have absolutely no clue what my face must have looked like but I congratulated them just as warmly as everyone else. Wow, this was turning out to be an interesting night. I raised my glass of firewhisky, "I propose a toast," I sad, once everyone had settled down enough to pay attention to me, "To Alice and Frank Longbottom."

"Here here!" came Sirius's voice over the clatter of chinking glasses. Everyone took a sip from their drinks, except Peter, who'd been cut off a long time ago.

"All right." Said Remus finally, "I think we should continue. Alice you're up."

"Um James, Truth or Dare?"

"Definitely dare." I said quickly. I didn't want anyone to think I was chicken.

Alice seemed to ponder this for awhile before finally deciding on a suitable dare. "I dare you to dye your hair pink-"

"That's it?" I sneered.

"…And wear it like that to class Monday.

_WHAT!?_ I cried mentally. "Fine." I shrugged, pretending I didn't care and Alice pointed her wand at my head.

"You wanna see?" she asked, holding up a tiny hand mirror. I grunted and snatched the mirror from her. I looked in and found to my dismay that my hair was a very bright shade of magenta. _Wonderful. Just bloody wonderful._ I thought sarcastically. Sirius laughed at my shocked expression.

"Well if you're so smart!" I snapped at him, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." He retorted a bit too quickly.

_Hmmmmm… I needed something good…Lets see…Bingo! _"I dare you to wear some of Alice's make-up for the rest of the game!"

Sirius's face twisted into that of pain, then embarrassment, then relief, and finally a suave uncaring look. Alice glared at me. "I don't want that _thing_ touching my stuff."

Mary looked indignant. "That _'thing' _is my boyfriend!" she said.

"Good point." I started, "Alice, go get your make-up, Mary you can put it on."

Lily stifled a giggle. I shot her an amused glance, which she returned, making my heart skip a beat. Alice got up bitterly and trudged up the stairs, "You started this!" I called after her retreating figure.

She came down a few moments later and Mary applied the make-up. Sirius looked downright hilarious, what with the lipstick and eye-shadow and blush and whatever the hell else was on his ugly face. When he looked in the mirror I thought he was going to have a heart attack or something. The look on his face- shock mingled with disgustion and disbelief, that was priceless, that was. I cracked up. So did pretty much everyone else in the circle. Alice didn't seem to find it funny, nor did Sirius or Peter who just sorta sat there hicuping, but the rest of us were roaring with laughter.

Finally Sirius could take it no longer. He looked around the circle, and his eyes came to rest on me. "James!" he barked, "Truth or Dare!"

I gulped and stopped laughing. I was all too familiar with that malicious gleam in Padfoot's eye. It only showed when he was about to prank the living daylights out of someone. I lost a bit of my nerve. "Truth." I gulped.

He considered me for sometime. Everyone waited with bated breath for what he was going to say. "How many times has Lily turned you down?"

_Wow._ I thought, _That was a low blow, that was._ Though I guess I deserved it. "Thirteen times." I said.

"You've been counting!" cried Lily, exasperatedly. "Oh c'mon, it had to be more than thirteen!"

"Well it was thirteen failed attempts to win your heart." I said miserably. "I'm on to plan N now, if you must know."

Lily guffawed at me, Sirius smirked. "Frank. Truth or dare?" I asked to divert everyone's attention from me.

"Er- Truth." He said, sensing my mood.

However, I was just angry at Sirius, not him. "So who's going to be the best man?" I asked.

Frank smiled, obviously relieved. "Oh. Well, I was thinking you." He gestured towards me.

"Really?"

Alice piped up, "Yeah. And we want Mary and Lily to be bridesmaids."

She looked towards her two best friends who nodded excitedly. "Er- Thanks Frank." I said, truly touched.

"Yeah uhh no problem." He replied, the atmosphere in the room seemed to have shifted to become less tense again. "So Peter, truth or dare?"

Peter looked up groggily, "Dare." He said.

"Ok." Said Frank. Obviously he felt bad for Peter's crumpled, diminished state, "Recite the alphabet backwards."

Peter looked puzzled, "Uhh…A…B…C-"

"Yeah he's drunk." Cut in Lily.

"….D….E….Q…."

"Peter stop." I said firmly, but he kept going.

"….F….T….U….V…"

"Peter!" Me and Lily both sighed exasperatedly.

"…W…X…Y…A." He finished, a pleased look on his face.

"Er- ok then." Said Remus, "Peter pick someone and ask them truth or dare."

Peter pointed to Lily, "T-truth or darrrrre?" he stuttered.

"Uh dare." Said Lily looking at Peter concernedly.

"Go jump in the lake!" came Peters request out of nowhere.

"What?!" Lily and I exclaimed.

"The Blaaaack Lake. Jump." Said Peter.

"Well I can't." said Lily. "It's after hours, we're not allowed on the grounds."

It seemed like Lily thought she was going to get away with not doing this one, because Peter wasn't exactly in his right mind. I wanted to make it perfectly clear that that was not the case. "No, No." I said, "I'm liking this Lily. I'll go with you and we can take my cloak so we won't get caught."

"No!" said Lily quickly, "Besides the doors are always locked."

She seemed to think she'd gotten me cornered. She should have known she was messing with James-secret-passageway-Potter. "I know a way out without using the doors." I said smugly.

She looked flustered, "Oh well- This is completely stupid anyways!" she cried slightly panicky.

"Bwaaak Bwaaak Bwaaak Chicken!" exclaimed Sirius.

Me and him stared making clucking noises.

"I am not!" said Lily indignantly, "You know what?! I'll do it!" She flung up her hands in a gesture of defeat and summoned my cloak. It came whizzing down the dormitory stairs to meet her. "C'mon Potter," she said coldly, flinging the cloak over us and starting towards the portrait hole.

_

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_

A/N: The song is One Step at a Time by Jordin Sparks. I'm not crazy about it, but I couldn't think of anything else and the song was playing on the radio while I was writing.


	15. Plan O

_A/N: This chapter is entirely in Lily's POV- I couldn't really find a good place to switch. Sorry about that. _

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Plan O: Moonlit Kiss

"Ok we're here." He whispered huskily in my ear. I shivered slightly. "Potter if you try to grope me one more time I am going to strangle you!" I said to mask my tremor.

He whipped the cloak off both of us and hung it on a tree branch. It glittered eerily in the moonlight. "You know what Lily?" he began, "It kind of diminishes the effect when you utter death threats every two seconds. Makes it seem like you're all bark and no bite if you know what I mean."

He winked at me and I scowled. "Oh come on. Lets get this over with!" I sighed exasperatedly.

I walked over towards the water and he followed. I looked down into the perfectly smooth, black, mirror-like lake, and saw Potter smirking down at me. He certainly looked like he was going to enjoy this. _If only there was some way to wipe that gleeful smirk right off his face….. _

And then it was like a light bulb went of in my head. I backed up a bit behind Potter. "I think I'm going to take my shoes off first," I said tactfully as he shot me a questioning look.

He just shrugged and turned back to the water. I looked at him standing there, perfectly dry and calm, and sniggered to myself as I lunged forward and pushed him hard between the shoulder blades. For a moment I watched amusedly as shock flickered across his features, and next second he had plunged into the icy depths.

He came up spluttering and red-faced. "Lily!" he shouted angrily.

I cackled maniacally and took that as my cue to cannonball him.

The water was freezing cold. I came up quickly and saw Potter treading water a few feet away from me. He glared at me and I grinned back. He shook his head from side to side, his bright-pink bangs spattering water across my face. The only thing I knew to do was to splash him back, so I did. He sputtered a bit as the wave of water hit him full on, but otherwise didn't miss a beat and splashed me right back. I recoiled as an icy blast of water hit me, and splashed him again. And so it went. Soon we were in an all out war!

He lunged in and sent a tsunami of water ricocheting towards me, and I ducked under and brought my feet to the surface, kicking profusely. He grabbed my feet and pulled me up, slashing water on my face in the process. I spat out the foul tasting pond water and splashed him back. This time it was his turn to duck. He popped up again, ready to go on the attack, but I was ready for him, before he knew what had hit him, I was splashing him, over and over and over again. He put his hands up in a feeble attempt to ward off the blows, but it was no use. I heard him gagging and gasping for breath, and the next thing I knew he was under the surface again. But this time he didn't pop up.

I blinked and peered down into the murky deaths_. It would be so like Potter to fake drowning_, I thought to myself. However when he didn't come back up for several seconds I got worried so I dove down under in search of him.

He was only a few feet below me, but his body was limp, and he had definitely inhaled water and passed out. I quickly grabbed my wand out of my back pocket, and muttered a spell, praying to God that it would work under water.

It did. Relief shot through my spine as I saw Potter slowly rise out of the water, and towards the surface. I quickly got out and scrambled to the bank where he was now laying.

It only took me one quick look to know he wasn't breathing. I pushed down on his chest, willing the water to come spilling out but it didn't. There was only one thing for it. I would have to do CPR. Thank Merlin for that muggle life-guard class my dad made me take last year.

I urgently lowered my mouth onto Potter's and began breathing in and out slowly, just as the camp counselor had instructed. For a few moments nothing happened, but gradually I began to feel a bit of breath seeping through. Potter coughed a bit and some water trickled out of his mouth. I breathed in a sharp sigh of relief, he was going to be ok. I raised my lips about and inch and peered at him intently. "Lily…" he croaked, spewing up much water in the process.

"You ok?" I whispered.

"Lily…" he said again, stronger this time. The desire was evident in his voice. I should have pulled my face back a bit, but I didn't and then it was too late. With one smooth motion he brought his lips up to meet mine. I suppressed a moan of pleasure as he began gently kissing me. At first it was slow, his lips moved in patterns I'd never imagined. I found myself eagerly responding to him, following his lips hungrily. When he realized that I wasn't going to pull away he deepened the kiss, it became more and more urgent and fast paced. Soon he was prodding my mouth with his tongue, persistently attempting to gain access.

I shouldn't have done it, but I opened my mouth to allow him in. It must have bean the alcohol. Cautiously I snaked my tongue into his mouth and began exploring every alcove, tasting him. It was so sweet, I never wanted this to end. He had his hands dangerously close to my hips, pulling me closer, my hands were snaked in his florescent pink hair.

This was just too much. I wanted him so bad. With one last feeble attempt to gain control of my hormone crazed mind, I submitted to him and starting kissing him with as much, if not more passion than he'd shown me. He responded eagerly, and I felt his hands snake even lower down my body. I pulled him closer to me, trying to press his body against mine, but failed to remember our present location and we both tumbled right back into the lake.

The icy waters jolted me back to my senses like a slap in the face. I popped up to see James looking at me bewilderedly. "Woah Lily…" he said.

I looked at him for a moment, and then the reality of the situation cascaded upon me. _I kissed Potter. Holy Mother Of Merlin…I just kissed Potter! _I shook my head from side to side to clear it, but that didn't help much.

"I-me-you…" I started to say, but quickly closed my mouth when only jumbled speech came out.

James was looking at me curiously, some of the pink seeping out of his hair now that he'd had two trips to the lake. "This isn't right." I said suddenly in an extremely panicky voice. "I have to go."

I got out of the lake quickly and started making my way towards the castle. I dimly heard Potter calling my name, and something about forgetting the cloak, but I was too concerned with getting far away from him and fast to really take notice. One thing I did know however, was this: I _loathe _truth or dare.


	16. Plan P

_A/N: Another longer chap. Enjoy! _

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Plan P: Detention with Lily

"Dammit!" I cried, punching the water as I watched Lily hurry away. I was so close that time, so close to having her for good. And now she was running away from me, yet again. I thought about chasing after her, but I didn't think it would do any good. Instead I got out of the water slowly and morphed into a large stag. I took off towards the forest and ran, ran with all my might, trying to get my mind into gear, off the sweet feel of her lips against mine, her body pressed close, her sweet emerald eyes looking down at me…

_No don't think of Lily, keep running and running and running…_

I ran for about an hour. Past endless stretches of bare trees, muddy ravines and mossy rocks. Only stopping and heading back to the castle when the first rays of dawn appeared in the sky. I got to the dormitory at about five o'clock. Everyone else was sound asleep, Peter's snores resonating about the room. I didn't even get out of my wet clothes. I just collapsed, exhausted onto my bed and fell asleep immediately.

/-o0o-/

I woke up the next morning to the sound of Peter's moaning. I cracked one eye open long enough to see him rolling back and forth in bed, moaning softly and clutching his perspirating forehead. _Yeah, he was in for a bad hangover._

"Morning Peter…" I mumbled as I hopped out of bed. Remus and Sirius had obviously already gone down to breakfast. Peter didn't say anything, he just continued rocking and sighing. "I said good-morning." I said, louder this time.

He turned over and glared at me, "There's no need to shout, I'm right here."

_Poor dear Wormtail…_

"Ok. I'm going down to breakfast, you comin'?" I began changing into clean clothes.

Peter shook his head unhappily. He looked so pathetic, I couldn't just leave him there to wallow in his misery.

I tossed my dirty clothes in the hamper so the house elves could come and clean them. "Oh c'mon, some breakfast would probably help."

He didn't say anything to that, just rolled over.

I sighed and went over and sat at the foot of his bed. "Do you remember anything from last night?" I asked, already suspecting I knew the answer.

He shook his head. "Well we played truth or dare. And you dared Lily to go jump in the lake. Which she did," I decided to leave out the part about her pushing me in and me almost drowning. "And then she got out and kissed me. How weird is that? She's a pretty good kisser actually."

Peter just looked at me. I wasn't sure if he was even listening. I plowed on anyways, "And then we both fell in the lake and she ran for it. What should I do?"

Peter looked at me, his eyes glazed. "Well go after her obviously." He said throatily.

_So he had been listening. _"How do you mean?"

"Go talk to her." He said groggily.

"She'll never talk to me."

"How do you know?"

"I know Lily. She just won't."

"Then figure out a way." With that he rolled over and fell back asleep.

I was sure he'd forget all about this conversation when he woke up. Poor guy. I headed into the common room. Lily was there, sitting at one of the comfortable armchairs by the fire. I decided to take Wormtail's advice and go try to talk to her. However, as soon as she saw me coming she jumped up like a startled rabbit and took off towards the portrait hole. I followed her out, but by the time I'd made it through the portrait hole, she was out of sight. This was going to be trickier than I thought.

I spent the rest of the day trying to catch Lily long enough to talk, but she seemed determined to avoid me. I almost cornered her in the library once, and she bewitched the shelves to make them rearrange themselves so I couldn't find my way to her. I found her in the hall later on, and very nearly caught her, but she ducked into a girls bathroom so I couldn't follow. I tried to sit with her at lunch, but every time I moved to sit the bench would move in the opposite direction, eventually knocking my legs out from under me, much to Lily's amusement. Needless to say, it was not a fun day.

/-o0o-/

I went back to the dormitory early that night. Remus and Peter were both there. Peter seemed to be feeling better, but Remus wasn't looking so good. It was that time of month again. Full moon in a few days.

I took in his disheveled appearance and shook my head. "Sorry Moony. Want me to get you some water? Coffee?"

He shook his head. I collapsed onto my bed. "If it makes you feel any better, my day wasn't so great either."

"Why? What happened?" asked Peter.

"Lily's avoiding me." I said simply.

Remus looked over at me, his gaze questioning, "Well what happened last night? She came stumbling into the common room at four in the morning. She wouldn't talk to us, just went upstairs. We stopped the game a few minutes later."

"Oh, what'd I miss?" I asked curiously.

"Nothing much. Just Padfoot wrote a rather amorous note to Professor Mcgonagall and Peter did the Macarena."

"I did what!?" Peter shrieked.

Remus tried to laugh but it came out as a rather throaty cough, "It was hilarious Prongs, you missed one heck of a show!"

I scowled, "Too bad."

"So where were you?" asked Remus.

"In the woods. I went for a run."

Remus looked at me, concern etched in his face. "Why?"

"Lily." I stated simply.

"Oh…" he said.

"Yeah. And now she won't talk to me. I've spent the entire day trying to corner her, but she just keeps running away." I complained.

"Hmmmm…." Began Remus, looking deep in thought. "Maybe you could talk to her tomorrow in class."

"No. This has to be in private."

Remus scratched his head, thinking. If anyone could help me, it would be him. "Well maybe…" he started and then drifted off again. We lapsed into silence for awhile. And then out of the blue, Peter piped up. "Why don't you get into detention with her?"

Remus looked over at Peter bemusedly, "Peter that's-"

I cut him off. "Bloody Brilliant! That's what!" I cried excitedly.

Who would have thought Wormtail would be the one to come up with a good idea? Maybe he was living up to the Marauder standard after all. The only question that remained was this. How?

I didn't want Lily to get in too much trouble. After all she was head girl and rules and grades were very important to her. No, just something small. Some minor offense. No homework, passing notes, showing up late to class, in the hall without a pass. I don't know. Lily was just too darn perfect.

/-o0o-/

I sat in the library the next day, watching Lily study. She had no idea I was there, peering through a bookshelf. I know this was kind of stalkerish of me, but frankly I didn't care. I had to come up with an idea to get her in detention and fast. If only I had more time…

_Time…Exactly, that was the key. _I looked over to where Lily was sitting and aimed a spell at her left wrist, where I knew her watch was. Sniggering a bit to myself I turned and headed back to the common room.

Sirius was hustling about the dormitory, looking for something. I'm not sure what, but I was pretty sure I didn't want to know. "Well Transfiguration in a few, Mcgonagall'd be pissed if we showed up late again, you comin'?" he asked hurriedly.

"No you go ahead." I said.

"Do you _want_ to get detention?"

"Yup."

"Ok. See you later then." He hurried out and I sat down to wait. This would be an interesting lesson…

/-o0o-/

It was odd, usually the corridors would be full of students a few minutes before class, today there were none. I hurried along as usual, my watch read that I was perfectly on time, but I couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was wrong.

My misgivings were confirmed when I arrived at Transfiguration. There was no one milling about in front of the door before class. And furthermore I could hear Mcgonagall's voice giving a lecture through the doors. _Maybe my watch was a bit slow…_

I pushed the door open timidly and my face fell as I saw the entire class already assembled. I gulped and looked at the large grandfather clock on the other side of the room. It read: 10:15. I was fifteen minutes late!

Professor Mcgonagall looked up mid-lecture and scowled. "I'm glad you decided to join us Ms. Evans." She said coldly.

I stood there, stunned. I'd never, ever, in seven years at this school, been late for class. Not once. And today I was fifteen minutes late. What the hell was wrong with me?

"You can take a seat Mrs. Evans. Or would you rather pass the rest of the lesson standing?"

"Sorry Professor." I said quickly, taking a seat next to Alice.

I got out my notebook and a quill. "Alice, can I-"

She didn't let me finish, just slid her notes over a bit so I could copy. I smiled at her as a way of thanks and began writing.

About five minutes later, Potter stumbled into class, smiling jovially as he sauntered over towards Sirius and took his usual seat. Professor Mcgonagall fixed her gaze coldly on him. It was obvious she didn't appreciate being interrupted twice.

And she wasn't the only one staring. Not all of the pink dye had come out of Potter's hair yet, the top half of his head was a mass of black, while the tips were a bright, blaringly obvious pink. Alice and I sniggered, so did about half the class. I even thought I saw Professor Mcgonagall's lips curve into a small smile for about half a second.

However she continued as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. I saw Potter whispering to Sirius a few rows over, but tried to ignore it, even though I could have sworn I heard my name thrown in a few times.

The lesson wore on and on, agonizingly long. I was sure Mcgonagall wasn't thru with me. Sure enough, when the lesson finally drew to a close Professor Mcgonagall called Potter and I to her desk. Without pausing she said, "Detention. My office. Eight o'clock." My heart plummeted. This was my first ever detention. I sighed and turned to go, so did Potter.

"Oh and Mr. Potter…" he wheeled around to face Mcgonagall. "I commend you for winning the cup, but please, do something about that hair."

He smirked and made his way past me and out of the classroom. I followed, my heart heavy.

/-o0o-/

Seven fifty-five. I got there early to show Professor Mcgonagall that I was perfectly capable of arriving on time. I wasn't expecting Potter to be there so early, and sure enough, the door was left wide open and he wasn't anywhere in sight. Professor Mcgonagall was sitting at her desk, correcting papers no doubt. I saw her scribbling furiously on one paper. Then she sighed and wrote something that looked suspiciously like a T in the right hand top corner.

I knocked on the doorframe to announce my presence. She didn't even look up before saying, "Come in, Mrs. Evans."

I shuffled forward nervously. Like I said before, I've never gotten detention, so I didn't really know what to expect. As if she was reading my mind Professor Mcgonagall looked up and met my gaze, "Is this your first detention Lily?" she asked, not unkindly.

I just nodded. "Ah well," she said lightly, "Everyone makes mistakes occasionally. I'm sure you meant no offense in coming to class late, am I correct?"

I nodded again. "Nevertheless. I have to be fair. Ah…Here comes Mr. Potter."

Potter swaggered in. "Good. You're on time for a change." Said Professor Mcgonagall curtly.

"Professor Slughorn needs you to sort some of his rat spleens. You'll put them in these bins," Here she gestured to some bins by her desk, "In accordance to age."

"Less than a month old. One to three months old. Three to six months old. Six months to a year old. More than a year old." She said, pointing to each respective bin. "Have fun. I'll be in the library. You can come and get me when you're finished. They'll be no need to use magic or wear gloves."

With that she left the office, her heels click-clacking along the corridor. Soon they faded away, and it was just me and Potter. Alone. _May God have mercy on my soul._

I moved towards the rat spleen's and picked one up. It was slimy and squishy, definitely newly amputated. "Less than a month," I muttered, dropping it into the respective bin.

"How can you tell?" came Potters voice in my ear. He had sat himself right next to me and was examining another, graying rat spleen.

I tried not to notice his close proximity, though it was giving me goose bumps for some reason. "The slimier it is, the younger. And the more soft and squishy, the younger. It gets stiffer and dryer as it ages. The gray ones like that," I pointed to Potter's spleen, "Are very old. That's probably over a year."

"So you just guess?"

"Well no. There are other ways to tell. For instance these spots," I pointed to the spots on the underside of the organ, "Are yellow until the spleen is over three months old, then they turn red, and then a dark orangish when the spleen is over six months old. And after about eight or so months they disappear completely."

"Ok."

We worked in silence for a while. The excess slime from the spleen was starting to cake around my fingers. It was disgusting work, but I wasn't going to let Potter see that I was the least bit fazed. The only sounds to be heard was the squelching sound as the spleens fell into their respective buckets and Potter's muttered curses as they slipped through his fingertips.

I was perfectly fine with the silence. In fact I exalted in it. I really didn't want to talk about the other night, I still didn't know how I felt about it all. One minute I was completely in control, the next he had me weak at the knees. How did he do it? That boy was so frustrating sometimes. But he was Potter. And I was supposed to hate Potter, not be out in the middle of the night making out with Potter. That was all wrong. It must never happen again. Though it was a pretty good kiss…

His voice jolted me out of my reverie. "Lily, I think we need to talk."

_Uh-oh._ "There's nothing to talk about." I said pointedly.

"Yes there is. About what happened Saturday night."

"Nothing happened Saturday night." I really didn't know what I was going to gain from denying it. I guess I was just stalling.

"You kissed me."

"_You_ kissed _me_." I retorted.

"But you kissed me back." Gosh, this boy was stubborn.

I found myself getting aggravated, "You know what Potter? I don't know why I did that. I was tired, half drunk, sopping wet-"

"What does wet have to do with it?" He picks the worst times to interrupt.

"I was just relieved that you were alive and guilty that I almost drowned you so I guess I kind of just lost it for a second. I don't know, whatever. And you kissed me then and I wasn't really thinking straight so I just sorta kissed you back." It sounded weak even to me.

Obviously Potter was thinking along those same lines, "Oh c'mon Lily, you must have felt something."

"No I didn't." That was a complete lie. I'd definitely felt much more than a spark, but I wasn't going to give Potter the satisfaction of knowing that.

"Well I did. You're a really good kisser." He said, oblivious to my seething, "Definitely the best kiss I've ever had."

"Well good for you, but it meant _nothing_." I stressed the last syllable to get my point across.

"Well it definitely meant something to me."

"You know what? Drop it ok? We were playing a game. That's all it was. Just a game. Nothing more!" I shot him one of my famous death glares.

"Whatever you say Lily." He said, clearly amused.

"What's so funny?" I asked angrily.

"Nothing, it's just you're getting so defensive. If it was nothing then why do you care so much?"

I sighed aloud, "This is getting us nowhere, I'm not talking to you."

I turned back to our work. We worked in silence for awhile longer. I had hoped that it would stay that way, but apparently it was not to be. "And Lily…" began Potter tentatively.

"Shut up." I said angrily, grabbing another spleen and squeezing it a bit harder than intended. It popped in my hand and it's contents spewed everywhere. On my face, in my hair, in Potter's pink hair, all over Mcgonagall's desk and on the floor. _Nice going Lily._

"Scourgify." I said, cleaning up the office instantly.

I looked at Potter. He looked just slightly surprised. Like what had come to pass had been nothing more than a mildly interesting television show, and not a minor explosion. I guess he was used to things blowing up in his face, after all he shared a dorm with Sirius.

"Well I was going to say thank you for saving my life yesterday, but if you'd rather I kept my mouth shut-"

"You're welcome." I cut across rather harshly. Then I felt a bit bad, "It was my fault in the first place anyways, don't thank me."

"No it wasn't."

"Yes it was. I pushed you in."

"Well it was my idea to go through with it."

"No it was Peter's."

"But he was drunk!"

"So?"

"You know what? I give up. You win. It was your fault."

'Thank you." I said defiantly.

"So there's a Hogesmede trip next weekend…" he began.

"I'm not going with you."

"Just checking."


	17. Plan Q

_A/N: And I'm back with another chapter. Sorry there was a bit of a wait- I went up North with some friends and my parents expressivly forbid me to bring my laptop. Boo. _

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Plan Q: Midnight Snack

Moony was feeling terrible tonight. I decided to go get him something from the kitchens. Something hot, cocoa perhaps.

I got to the corridor next to the Hufflepuff common room, went over to the large portrait of a fruit bowl and tickled the pear. Instantly, a door appeared in the portrait and I stepped gingerly inside.

I knew that at least a few house elves would be awake, preparing breakfast for tomorrow morning, but I was not expecting to find a person in there. However, I did find a person, sitting hunched a mug of hot chocolate with her ankles dangling off the high counter. And that person was Lily.

My mouth dropped, but only for a second. I quickly got over my surprise and walked over to her. She jerked in surprise when she saw me, spilling a little bit of hot chocolate in the process. "P-potter!" she stuttered, "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," I countered, hoisting myself up to sit next to her.

"I couldn't sleep." She said. I looked her over. There were circles under her eyes, and they somehow seemed paler green than usual. It didn't look like she was sick or anything, but something, and I couldn't quite place it, was not right.

"Sorry about that. Monny's not feeling well, I came here to get him something that might help." I said, by way of explanation.

"Ah. That time of month again, huh?" said Lily knowingly.

This time I felt my jaw must have unhinged, "What!?" I gulped.

She giggled at my expense, "Oh c'mon Potter. I've known for _ages. _He's a werewolf."

I opened and closed my mouth but no sound came out. "Don't worry!" she said hurriedly, "I haven't told anyone. Not even Alice or Mary."

"B-but how?" I managed to choke out.

She rolled her eyes at me, "Well it's sort of obvious, isn't it? I noticed he was always sick around the full moon, so I just sort of put two and two together and figured it out."

"And that doesn't bother you?" I know it was sort of a blunt question, but I had to ask.

"What? That he's a werewolf? No it doesn't."

I couldn't quite mask my surprise. Most people would be running for the hills if they found out there classmate was a monster, but Lily seemed to take it in her stride, "Why?"

She looked puzzled, "Well it doesn't bother you, does it?"

"No. But he's one of my best friends."

"I like Remus. He's smart and sensible. Unlike some people I know." She emphasized the last sentence so that I had a pretty good idea who she was talking about.

"So it doesn't matter to you that he turns into a vicious killer every full moon?"

"Well it's not his fault. I'm sure he didn't _want _to become a werewolf. And what is this, dis your friends day or something?"

"I'm not putting Remus down, it's just…" I trailed off a bit. What exactly was it that I wanted to say? _You're supposed to be scared to death of him. You're supposed to freak out, not be all cool about it. _"Most people would be scared, or angry or something if they knew." I said finally.

"Well I don't like to judge people on things they can't control. I like to be fair to everyone. Judge them all equally."

"So, like give everyone second chances?" I pressed, trying to steer the conversation around a bit.

She shrugged, "I'm not sure what that has to with anything, but yeah, I guess so."

I smiled triumphantly, "So will you give me a second chance?" I asked as innocently as possible.

She sighed exasperatedly, "We're talking about Remus here, not you! Besides, I've given you a million extra chances."

That didn't really answer my question. "Well I'm just saying, if you still like Remus despite his affliction, why can't you like me, even though I'm madly in love with you. It's not like it's my fault you're so darn beautiful."

She glared at me, not flattered in the slightest, "You know what? I'm giving you a chance now, just sitting here. I could leave right now but I'm not going to. So here's your chance to show me you're not the moron I think you are."

"Ok." I said slowly. I wasn't really sure where this was coming from, but I didn't want to blow it. "So er- What'd you want to talk about?"

"I dunno." She shifted slightly, towards me and took a sip from her mug. It was strangely peaceful here. All of the house elves were asleep it seemed, or else cleaning the dormitories or something. There was absolutely no one about, it seemed the entire castle was an empty vessel. It was just me and Lily, alone in the cozy little kitchen, and it was strange how natural it felt. "So," I said, casting around for something to say, "You don't usually break the rules and come here in the middle of the night, do you?"

She didn't really seem surprised when I asked that question, "I just come here when I'm feeling a bit uneasy. It reminds me of home."

She spoke softly, as though she were afraid she might wake someone, even though we were completely alone. I nodded my head for her to continue, "My mother's kitchen. We used to cook together, all the time. Brownies and cookies and cakes. Pasta, stew, her famous lasagna, stuffed turkey. In October we'd always make caramel apples," she licked her lips and went on, "She taught me everything she knew about muggle cooking. We had such a fun time. We'd taste everything, she'd always let me lick the frosting off the bowl when we made cakes. Her favorite thing to make, and mine too was blueberry pie."

"I love blueberry pie." I said softly.

She smiled sadly at me and went on, "Me too. We used to make it all the time. It was just our little secret recipe. Our pie was the best in town, everyone loved it. We'd make it on all sorts of special occasions, my birthday, hers, anniversaries, the day I got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts, just whenever we felt in the mood for some good cheer."

She smiled at me again, but there was something hollow about it. I was almost afraid to ask, but I did, "Do you still make it?"

Her face fell and she looked down at her feet, "My mother died three years ago." She whispered, "I haven't so much as tasted blueberry pie since. It was our special food, without her, well…it's worthless."

She sniffled a bit and wiped her nose on her sleeve. I didn't know what to say, what to do. She'd never let me in like this before, but how was I supposed to react to this? I felt really bad for her, I really did, but how could I show her that I was sorry and not have her think I was just being an ass as usual. "Lily, I'm so sorry." I said with as much feeling as possible.

She looked up at me, she wasn't crying but it looked as if she was just barely holding back tears. "You mean it." It wasn't a question.

I nodded, carefully putting an arm around her shoulder and pulling her towards me. I wasn't trying to make a move or anything, just give her some comfort, and for some reason she actually let me. "Lily…" I started.

She craned her neck to look at me, "Why are you here, really?" I knew there was something she wasn't telling me, I could almost feel it in her gaze.

She sniffled again, and I saw a single tear leak through her lashes. "M-my mom. Sh-she died three years ago t-t-today."

And then she couldn't hold the tears in anymore. It was like a dam had broken and a river was flowing through. Soon her eyes were steaming, her whole face flooded with tears, as she sobbed uncontrollably. She buried her face in my arm, drenching my robes, but I didn't care. I patted her on the back, somewhat awkwardly. I've never been a real emotional person. "Oh Lily…" I said trailing away when I realized she wasn't listening and I had no idea what to say.

We sat like that for a while. She sobbing uncontrollably, me holding her tight, trying to comfort her but probably doing a pretty lousy job of it. Eventually she began to calm down a bit. Her tears subsided and she lifted her head high enough to look me in the eyes. "Oh James, you must think I'm so weak-"

I put up my hand to stop her. "You're not weak. You loved you're mom. And she's gone. If it were me, I don't know what I'd do. I'd probably not be able to deal with it. You're an extremely strong person, and I've never thought more highly of you than this very moment."

She hiccupped. "You're just saying that."

"No I'm not. I never knew you'd lost you're mom. You deal with it so well. I admire you for that. But you should cry for her every now and then. You should let people know, let them in. Maybe they understand what you're going through."

"And are you saying that you understand?"

"I can only guess. If someone in my family died, I don't know how I'd be able to just make it through the day."

Her sobs ceased. She picked up her abandoned hot cocoa mug and fiddled with it a bit, "It's just hard. Like there's a hole in your heart. And every time you see something that reminds you of her, it makes you happy for a bit, thinking about fond memories, but then there's this overwhelming sadness when you remember that you'll never be able to see her again, make memories with her again. I'm usually ok. I don't often think of her for too long, and when I do, I can deal with it. But today, the anniversary of her death, and every anniversary since, I have to think of her. And her death just becomes all the more real to me. I know she'd want me to be happy, and I am. But today it just seems so hopeless."

She closed her eyes but the tears didn't come. I magiked a box of tissues anyways and gave them to her. She accepted them gratefully and blew her nose and wiped her tearstained face. Soon she looked almost normal again except for the fact that her eyes were all red and puffy.

She smiled ruefully, "Mcgonagall did the same thing." She said, gesturing to the tissue box.

"Hmmm?"

"When Severus hexed you. She got me a box of tissues."

"You cried for me?" It was kind of a tactless thing to say, but I was truly touched.

"Yes. I thought you were dead." She sniffed.

We lapsed into silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, simply companionable. Suddenly a brilliant idea struck me, "So Lily?" I asked a bit tentatively.

"What?" she asked.

"You said you haven't made that pie in three years."

"That's right." She said, her voice steady.

"Well, we're in a kitchen, what'd you say we make it right now? As sort of a tribute to your mom. So we can keep the good memories alive."

I waited with bated breath for her to respond. She could very easily get angry with me for this. She could tell me to get out of her life and mind my own business. It was her and her mom's special thing, not ours. She seemed to consider the idea for a minute, and then her eyes brightened, "Do you know how to cook?"

"A little bit." I confessed, "But you're the one with the special recipe so you'll have to help."

"You'd do that for me?" her emerald eyes were filled with gratitude.

"Yes. Of course I would. If you'd like it, that is."

She smiled then, her first genuine, dazzle-your-feet-out-of-your-sneakers Lily smile that night, "I'd like that." She said simply.

/-o0o-/

We worked diligently to make the pie. We were somehow able to scavenge all the ingredients. Not surprising, seeing as we were in a magical kitchen. As it turns out, Lily was a fantastic cook. She even let me taste some of the uncooked batter. I tried to steal another taste but I ended up tipping the pot over my head. Even more surprisingly, she wasn't mad about that. She just laughed at me.

And boy, let me tell you, she has a beautiful laugh. It's the most wonderful sound in the world, sweet and melodious, but still quite infectious. I'd be willing to humiliate myself a thousand times over if it meant I could get another laugh out of Lily. Even grieving for her mom she still has a sense of humor.

"Mhhhhh. Lily, this is excellent." I said, about an hour later, as we had sat down to eat the pie.

She smiled slightly at me, "You helped," she said.

"Definitely the best pie I've ever tasted. Now I know why you two kept this recipe a secret."

"Well now you know it too."

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed." I pretended to zip my lips and throw away the key.

She giggled at me and thumped me lightly on the arm, sending tingles up my limb. She could have no idea the affect simple, mutual gestures like that had on me.

We took our time eating that pie. It was too good to waste. There was still some extra when we were done so Lily decided to leave it with a note so the house elves could finish it.

We left the kitchen together and began making our way stealthily up to Gryffindor tower. "You never did get that cocoa for Remus, you know?" said Lily musingly, about halfway there.

"Forget it. He's probably asleep now anyways. You were more important tonight."

"You're a good friend James." She said sincerely.

"Are you saying we're friends?" I could barely believe the words had left my mouth.

"No I meant to Remus. But-well…"

"Yes?" I pressed.

"I mean no, but-oh I don't know. You've been so nice to me lately, I don't know what to say."

"How about thank you?"

"Yes, thank you Potter. And I really do mean that."

"You're always welcome Lily."

We were standing pretty close together, I felt around for her hand in the dark and grasped it. I felt her stiffen a bit, but luckily she didn't withdraw her hand from my grasp. I turned my face to see her's just inches away from me. I was aching to close the distance between us, but I knew that would be the end of our fragile peace, so I bit my lip and spoke softly, "Lily, I'm always glad to help. Always. And I'll always be there for you, even if you don't want me. I promise I will be."

Lily swatted my face away playfully with her free hand. "Ok. Now you're getting melodramatic." She said as we neared the portrait hole.

"Manticore." She said confidently.

The fat lady stirred and looked down at us. "Well if it isn't the little love-birds, out for a moonlight stroll I see."

I was surprised to see Lily blush. "Can you let us in please?" I asked impatiently.

"What? And no apology for waking me up in the middle of the night? How rude."

"We're sorry miss." Said Lily timidly, that perfect little angel look she used on teachers now on her face.

"Oh fine. C'mon in then." She swung forward grudgingly to admit us in.

"Well, goodnight then James." Said Lily awkwardly, as we gained the common room.

And then she surprised me be doing something she'd never done before, she hugged me. It was just a brief embrace, but all the same it felt good. She squeezed me quickly and then disappeared up the stairs of her dormitory, leaving me standing in the middle of the room, frozen and utterly speechless.

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A/N: Reviews make my day. If you have a few spare seconds, I'd love to hear what you think.


	18. Plan R

_A/N: This is kind of a filler chap, but I thought it was cute anyways. See what you think. Starts off in Lily's POV._

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Plan R: Falling for Lily

The next morning I came down to find a large crowd standing in front of the announcement board. Mary yawned, "What's up?" she asked Sirius, who was standing towards the back of the throng.

"Dunno." Was all he said, before pushing his way towards the front of the cluster.

Mary and I followed him. We neared the board and I was able to make out the headline: _**Hogwarts First Annual Graduation Ball**_

_Uh-oh. That didn't look good._ I read on: _On May 23__rd__ Hogwarts will host it's first annual Graduation Ball. This occasion is a mandatory requirement for all seventh years. Daily prophet news reporters will be there, to observe the festivities and to take pictures. All seventh year students must arrive in the great hall for a class photo at precisely 7 o'clock, and then the ball will commence and last until midnight. Dress robes will be required of all students. Everyone must attend, no exceptions!_

I could almost see Professor Mcgonagall writing this, adding the exclamation point at the end of the last sentence with grim determination.

I put my head in my hands and sighed. This was horrible. Sirius seemed to be thinking along the same lines. His face had paled and his eyes were wide and terrified. He was mouthing something that looked suspiciously like the words: _Dress robes._

Mary finished reading the notice and started jumping up in down in her frenzied excitement. "Ohmygosh! Lily! Sirius! We're gonna be in the paper! This is so awesome!"

Sirius seemed to have recovered enough composure to speak, "Yeah-uh awesome." He choked out.

Mary missed the sarcasm. "It will be, won't it? I've been looking for an excuse to get you in dress robes for ages. We'll have to go shopping at Hogesmede this weekend."

Sirius blanked. He turned his back on Mary so she wouldn't notice and pretended to puke. I laughed.

"What's so funny?" asked Potter, strutting forward. His scraggly black hair was even messier than usual, obviously he'd just gotten up.

I watched his face as he read the notice. At first it was polite puzzlement, then astonishment, then disgust, then anger and finally panic. I stifled a giggle as he turned to me, his face seemingly consorted in pain. _Boys._

"What's wrong Potter?" I asked benignly.

He opened and closed his mouth, too bewildered to speak.

I prodded his arm playfully. "Get over it."

He looked down at his arm where I'd just poked it, and then looked back up at me. "Did you just poke me?" he asked teasingly.

"Why yes I did," I said, playing along, "Why does that surprise you?"

"What happened to not coming near me with a ten foot pole?"

"It was a twenty foot pole, and that was so worth it." I smirked at him.

He grinned sheepishly, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well how do you like that?" He poked me, not too hard.

"Oh, you did not just do that!" I poked him back, a bit harder this time.

"Oh yes I did!" He poked me again, harder still.

I poked him again, "Ow! That hurt Lily!" He poked me back.

"Oh poor you!" I poked him again.

He prodded me much harder this time. I winced a bit and poked him back. He pretended to recoil and clutched his arm in theatrical pain, "Ah, my arm! My arm!"

I laughed. "Oh c'mon. The Gryffindor quidditch captain got beat by a girl!"

His eyes gleamed in the light of my challenge, "This means war!" he laughed, poking me hard in the gut.

I recoiled, "No fair!" I said, poking him in the gut as well.

He grunted and lunged at me, I backed up quickly before he could reach me, pushing a few students aside in the process.

He kept on coming, I stood my ground and reached him before he could get me. He backed up a bit, and then lurched towards me. Startled, I tried to back up, but my foot got caught in the hem of my robe and I tumbled to the ground.

Potter almost barreled into me, but he put on the brakes in a hurry. Unfortunately, his momentum was still enough to send him toppling forward. I closed my eyes, waiting for the painful impact, but apparently he put his hands out right on time, because I felt nothing more than a light thump, as he landed right on top of me.

I opened one eye slowly. His face was just inches from mine, his body pressed up against mine, practically straddling me. His face looked quite startled, understandable. My body felt very warm, even though it was chilly in the common room. I was acutely aware of every place my body was in contact with him, and I knew my cheeks must be burning. I hoped Potter would get up soon because this was very uncomfortable, especially with his shallow breathing on my face, and my body reacting the way it was.

But he didn't move. He just gazed into my face and I hoped against hope he didn't try to kiss me again because I wasn't sure I'd be able to resist it in my current condition. "Getting up anytime soon?" I asked conspiratorially.

"Wha? Oh yeah!"

He stood up slowly, blushing. Then he offered his hand but I chose to ignore it and got up a bit shakily. "It's ok." I said quickly.

We both looked down at the ground, and I suddenly realized, at the sight of the many pairs of shoes that we weren't alone.

"Wow Lily!" I heard Sirius say, and then Mary cut in, "That was hot!"

I was sure my face was beet red. I just nudged my way out of the crowd and headed out of the portrait whole without looking up. That Potter. He would be the death of me.

/-o0o-/

Unlike Lily, I just shrugged the little incident off and continued to gaze at the offending notice. On one hand: This ball was sure to be absolute torture. I hated dress robes with passion, and dancing was definitely not my strong suit. Give me a broomstick any day and I could sweep a girl off her feet- quite literally. But in a fancy suit and shoes I was hopeless. On the other hand: this would be an excellent opportunity to ask Lily out. Not that I expected her to say yes, but still, it was worth a shot.

I met Lily the next day on her way to transfiguration. "Lily, wait up!" I called.

She slowed down enough for me to catch her, and we climbed onto the marble staircase. "What's up Potter?"

I noticed that she still used my last name to address me, but at least she was actually acknowledging my presence. "Listen, Lily I wanted to ask you-"

She cut me off before I could get any father. "No. I won't go to the graduation ball with you."

"How did you-"

She laughed at my shocked expression. "You have the weirdest face every time you ask me out. Seriously, you should ask me out in front of a mirror sometime, you'd get a kick out of it."

"I do not!" I cried indignantly.

"You do too," She teased, "You look like Mcgonagall when she's pursing her lips."

"What!? Mcgonagall, never!" I argued jokingly.

We were nearing the top of the staircase. "Ya-huh." Said Lily, making a face and pursing her lips.

I laughed, and then my eyes came to rest on her lips, her full voluptuous lips, and I stopped laughing.

She didn't seem to sense anything had changed. "Just ask Mary. She calls it your kissy-lovesick-puppy look."

"Uh-huh." Was all I managed, my eyes were still entranced on her lips. I suddenly had an overwhelming urge to kiss her. Right there, right then. I lunged foreword to bring my lips to hers and (yup you guessed it.) tripped on the hem of my robe.

I woke up at the bottom of the staircase. Lily was pointing her wand at my face; I guess she just brought me back to consciousness.

I blinked groggily up at her, my eyes taking liberty to roam her concerned face. God, she got prettier every day. Every single moment I spent with Lily, I fell more in love with her. Fell being the key word here. Because even if I hadn't realized it until right then, I had literally fallen for Lily in every sense of the word.

"God Lily," I croaked, "You're going to be the death of me. I swear."

She looked me over quizzically, "You and me both." She said finally, offering her hand.

I didn't quite know what she meant by that, but I just shrugged and took her hand, staggering to my feet. Then we headed off to transfiguration, and she let me hold her hand the whole way there. For that, falling down a flight of stairs was totally worth it.

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A/N: Reviews are always appreciated. Don't be shy- hit the little blue button!


	19. Plan S

_A/N: So here's the next chapter. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again because I'm heading up North again tomorrow morning for an indefinite period of time, and there's no internet connection. Sorry. Hopefully it'll be early next week, but no guarantee's. _

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Plan S: Not a Date

The rest of the week passed without incident. The castle had taken a hot, muggy feeling in the light of incoming summer. I was really looking forward to the Hogesmede trip. Any chance to get out of the castle would be worth it.

However late Friday night, I got some unpleasant news.

"Oh Lily! We're so sorry! We should have thought!" said Mary, who was sitting at the foot of my bed.

They'd just told me that they were both going on dates with their boyfriend and fiancé, so I wouldn't have anyone to go to Hogesmede with.

I sighed, "It's ok. You guys go. Have a great time. I have to get a start on studying anyways. You know, NEWTS are only two months away."

"Oh c'mon Lily. You can still go. Take someone else. That nice charms partner of yours, or Chris, or Potter." Said Alice.

"Oh, well Elliot's nice, but he's kind of creepy sometimes, and I think he picks his nose. Chris is a sleaze, and Potter is Potter." I said as if that settled the matter.

Of course, with Mary it didn't. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"What's what supposed to mean?" I tried to ask innocently.

"Potter is Potter." Said Mary.

"Well he is. How else am I supposed to describe him?"

"Hmmmm…. Well you've never run out of unpleasant adjectives before. To name a few: slob, sleaze, womanizing bastard, arrogant toe-rag, pighead, dillhole, idiot, jerk, egocentric, jackass-"

"I don't remember jackass."

"Doesn't matter. What I mean is, next to all those, just Potter sounds really,_ really_ nice."

I rolled my eyes at her. "Mary, I don't know what you're implying here, but I can assure you I have absolutely no romantic inclination towards Potter, so just forget it. Okay?"

Mary and Alice shared a look. "Okay Lily." They said simultaneously.

I glared at both of them, "What's so funny?"

Mary shrugged, "Nothing. Nothing whatsoever."

I turned towards Alice, the much more honest of the two. She smiled sweetly at me, "Its just, Mary never actually implied anything, and you started getting all defensive. If Potter really didn't mean anything to you, you wouldn't have jumped down her throat about it."

"Jumping down throats! Who's jumping down throats?" I said quickly.

Mart let out an odd squealing sound, and I turned to see her trying to stifle her laughter with my pillow.

Alice shook her head slowly from side to side, grinning, "It's just a metaphor Lily. But I'm sure if you were, you know, sticking your tongue down a certain scruffy black-haired kid's throat, little Miss Romantic here would love to hear about it."

Here she gestured to Mary, who was making my bed shake she was laughing so hard. We both gave her odd looks. "Mary, what the heck is wrong with you?" I asked amusedly.

She looked up at us, her eyes streaming with tears of mirth, "Nothing. Nothing whatsoever."

I just shrugged my shoulders and walked out of the room. My friends were odd at the best of times, downright crazy at their worst.

/-o0o-/

Lily was sitting alone at one of the larger of the round library tables. I went over to her and plopped down on the chair next to her. "Hey Lily. What's up?"

She looked up from her notebook and smiled at me, "Hey Potter. I'm just studying."

I was a bit surprised that she actually acknowledged my presence. This was a huge improvement. I smiled a lopsided grin at her. "What for?" I asked.

"NEWTS." She said simply.

"What? But Lily, NEWTS aren't for two months. And you're like the smartest girl I know. Why on earth do you have to start studying now?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Your flattery has no affect on me whatsoever James Potter."

"It wasn't supposed to be flattery. It's the truth." I mumbled.

She shook her head. "Whatever you say."

An awkward silence ensued, in which Lily was scribbling profusely and I was left with nothing to do but watch. Finally I broke the silence, "So uhhhh…Lily, what er- what subject are you working on?"

"Oh I'm not working on anything right now, just making up a schedule. Here, take a look."

She handed me her notebook and I looked down to see a perfectly crisp, neat schedule on the page. I quickly scanned the rows, my jaw dropping when I saw that she'd only given herself about 45 minutes of lee-way a day. "Geesh Lily." I said, "You know, there's such a thing as free time. It's this wonderful thing where you-"

But something I saw on her schedule stopped me. I looked up at her, surprised. "You have the whole day tomorrow booked with studying. What about Hogesmede?"

She snatched the schedule away in a second. "I'm not going." She said, looking down at the floor.

"Not going?" I asked, feeling a bit flustered, "Why not? It's our last trip before we graduate. Why would you want to miss that?"

Lily shrugged. "Mary and Alice are both going on dates. I don't really have anyone to go with."

I could sense the resentment in her voice. "Well why don't you go with me?" I asked, unable to help myself.

She glared at me, "I thought we'd established the fact that I'm not going out with you Potter." She said a bit unsteadily.

"Uhhh… Yeah. We have. But this wouldn't be a date. It would just be as friends. You know… Cause that's what we are. Friends."

She looked down at the floor again, and seemed to be considering. "You know what Potter? Sure. I'll go with you. As friends. You've proven that you and I could do that. Just keep your distance, and don't try anything. Ok?"

My mind raced. _Did she seriously just agree to go to Hogesmede with me? _My immediate answer was, _Yes. Yes she did! _I smiled broadly, "Awesome Lily. Meet you down at the entrance hall at ten then?"

She smiled back at me. "Yeah, sure thing."

/-o0o-/

"I've told you guys like a gazillion times! It's not s date!" I cried frustrated.

I was sitting cross-legged on my bed. Mary was bouncing on her bed and Alice was sitting on top of her trunk in the corner. She winked at me. "Whatever you say Lily. You're _not_ going on a date with the man you're _not_ secretly in love with."

I sighed exasperatedly. "You two will be the death of me! I swear. We're just friends. And I'm only going with him because it's the last Hogesmede trip I'll ever get the chance to take and you guys ditched me so I was desperate."

Mary fake pouted, "Oh boo-hoo. Don't try to play the pity card with us Lily. You know it won't work. Now we want details, so spill."

"Details on what exactly?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Details about how he asked you out of course!" exclaimed Mary.

"For the last time, he didn't ask me out!"

"Oh, so you expect us to believe _you _asked _him_ then?" Asked Alice sarcastically. "How stupid do you think we are? Potter's been after you for months now. And you've turned him down all these times. Now, just out of the blue you decide to finally accept him. There's got to be some reason. Tell us now, you know we'll find out sooner or later."

I just shook my head. "It's nothing. I needed someone to go with and he was available. He knows it's not a date and he's ok with that. He's actually a pretty good guy once you give him a chance. And that's that. I'm not answering any more stupid questions."

They still didn't know anything about the two times Potter kissed me, or the time he sang to me, or the time we made pie. And I wanted it to stay that way.

"Well at least let us help you pick out your outfit Lily." Begged Mary, "I love you to pieces, but you pick the most prudish clothes sometimes."

I raised an eyebrow. "Gee thanks Mary."

"Well what are you going to wear then?" Asked Alice.

"Same thing I always do. Jeans and a T-shirt. It's not a date so it doesn't have to be anything special, and I don't want to lead him on. So there."

Mary rolled her eyes. "_Boring!_"

"Think what you want. I don't care." I scoffed. "And I'm going to go take a shower."

I began hurriedly gathering my things so I could make it out of this room and escape this awkward conversation.

"Whatever Lily," sighed Mary dejectedly, "Have fun on your date. We'll hound you for details later."

I was already almost out the room by the time she finished her sentence. Thankfully, I had enough time before the door closed to get in the last word. "It's not a date!"


	20. Plan T

_A/N: Well, I got back home earlier than planned due to bad weather, so here's the next chapter. I was too tired to proofread it like I usually do, so I apolagize in advance for all the mistakes I'm sure I've made. Also a big thanks to all my lovely reviewers- I now have over 100 reviews, and you have no idea how good that feels. A special shout out to Mel () who just recently reviewed every chapter of my story and completely made my day. You're awesome- I'd thank you in a review reply- but annonymous reviews don't have email adresses obviously. So without further ado- I give you plan T._

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Plan T: Hogesmede

We walked briskly away from the castle in relative silence. At one point he tried to grab my hand, but I tugged it out of his reach. "Woah. We're not on a date. Don't touch me."

He put up his hands in defeat, "Ok. ok. Sorry. I'm just kind of surprised you even agreed to go with me in the first place."

"Oh well, you know…. The weather has been so nice lately, I just wanted to get out of the castle for a little while."

He nodded, "Me too. I'm glad I could go with you. Sirius is in detention, Peter has remedial potions, and Remus is sick as a….sick as a-"

"Werewolf?" I put in sarcastically.

"Yup." He grinned. "So where do you wanna go first?"

I looked up in surprise to find that we had already reached our destination. _Wow, that was fast._

"Ummm. I dunno. Wherever you want to go, I guess." Was all I said.

"Wanna go to Zonko's?" He asked excitedly.

"Yeah sure."

He looked surprised, "I wouldn't have pegged you for a joke shop kind of girl."

I shrugged. "Me and Mary come in here sometimes. Alice isn't too into it."

We walked inside. It was already packed with Hogwarts students so we went over to a relatively unpacked corner of the room. I scanned the shelves, and my eyes came to rest on a small blue jar with bright magenta writing. "Trick breath mints," I read aloud, "Comes in three separate stenches: dragon breath, dragon dung and dragon-"

"You might not want to read that." James said.

I looked over, he was rifling through a bin labeled: _Unstable. 50 off. _"We tried those on Peter one time. Just stinkpellets and they all smell exactly the same."

"Why in the world would you want to smell-"

"Excellent! Trick mirrors and 24 hour permanent pimples!"

"What exactly-"

Potter cut me off again. "Ask no questions and you will receive no lies."

On second thought, maybe I didn't want to know.

/-o0o-/

The next shop we visited was Honeydukes, where I bought a few sugar quills and a lollipop, and Potter bought a stack of cockroach clusters and some Bertie Botts every flavor beans.

"What are you going to do with the quill, suck it in class?" he asked skeptically as we left.

"I could ask you the same question." I said, eying his bag of cockroach clusters, "And if you must know, I do use sugar quills in class, I find it increases attention span, especially in History."

"So that's how you stay awake." He said sarcastically.

"Actually Potter, if you would just listen to Binns once in a while, you might actually learn something interesting. I myself, find his lectures to be mildly captivating."

"You have got to be kidding me." He said, a look of disgust on his face.

"Ok. They're boring as hell. At least I try to listen. Unlike some people," I glanced meaningfully at Potter, "Who just leech off their friends all the time-"

"I do not. I listen to like the first five minutes, that's got to count for something!"

I shook my head, smiling, "Potter, Potter Potter."

He waggled an eyebrow, "Lily, Lily, Lily. Why do you have to be so perfect all the time anyways?"

I looked at him scornfully, "I do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too. You practically flipped out over that detention."

"So? It was my first one."

"Exactly."

"Exactly what?"

"You do too!" He stuck his tongue out in my face and I laughed.

"You're so immature James!"

"I'm immature!? You're the one who started this!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

/-o0o-/

We were sitting on a rock a ways away from the shrieking shack. Lily's idea, not mine. Merlin knows I've been to that place enough times.

"I wonder why everyone's so afraid of this place?" asked Lily, "It doesn't look so scary to me."

"It's not." I said quickly, without thinking. _Stupid, stupid Prongs._

She looked up sharply. "How do you know?" she asked sternly.

"Er- me and Sirius broke in one time. It was just an old abandoned building."

"Oh." She said, "How?"

"How? Uhhh… We just found a loose board and pried it off and climbed into the window. That's how."

"Ok." She said simply.

I figured it was time to steer our conversation out of these dangerous waters. "So I know," I said, "Lets play twenty questions."

She looked skeptical. "Nothing inappropriate or anything." I said hurriedly, "Just simple things like- oh I'll go first and show you. What's your favorite color?"

"Orange." She said simply.

"Why orange?" I asked.

"I don't know. It's different. Bright, cheery." She seemed to ponder this for a moment, "Ok Potter. I'll play. What's your favorite color?"

"Green." I said automatically. "Emerald actually."

"Why?"

"Hey that's another question. You have to wait until your next turn to ask that." I said quickly. I didn't want to admit to Lily that the reason my favorite color was emerald was because that was the color of her eyes.

"Hey, I told you why." She said, emerald eyes flashing in light of her perceived challenge.

"Well starting now, no follow-up questions until the next turn."

"That's not fair!"

"Do you really care anyways?" I asked, trying once more to escape answering.

"Well not initially no, but since you started getting all defensive, I do now."

"Because that's the color of your eyes." I mumbled to the ground, "They're so beautiful and every time I see that color I think of you."

"Oh." Was all Lily said. I looked up at her and she opened her mouth as if to speak, but then closed it again.

Sensing her discomfort, I quickly asked my next question, "Who's your favorite artist?"

"I don't know many. Picasso I guess."

I smiled, "No, not painter. I mean artist as in singer."

"Oh," she said, her cheeks flaring up a bit, "Well then I'd have to say Natasha Bedingfield."

"Cool." I said, "Your turn."

"Hmmmmm… What's your favorite animal?"

"A deer. What's your favorite er- class?"

"Potions." She said.

"That's just because Slughorn likes you."

She looked indignant. "Is not."

"Is too. You're so his favorite."

"I am not!"

I shot her a lopsided grin, "Are too. I wouldn't be surprised if he popped the question any day now."

"Potter that's disgusting! And besides I don't like potions because Slughorn likes me. I just like hands on activities."

"You do, do you?" I teased provocatively.

She started and glared at me. In a moment realization of what I had just said hit me, "Sorry, that came out wrong."

"I'll say." She said, then quickly changed the subject, "So, what's your favorite quidditch team?"

"Tornadoes. What's your favorite season?"

"Spring." She answered.

"Oh, 'cause it's exam time."

"No. Because the weather is nice, and I don't have to deal with my pain in the ass sister."

"Oh." Was all I said to that. "She a muggle?"

"Yup. What's your favorite song?" she asked.

I had to think about that for a second. I didn't really have one. But when I looked at Lily, for some reason one song in particular jumped out at me, "It's Not My Time, by 3 Doors Down." I said automatically.

"Oh…" she seemed to ponder this. "I suppose you identify with the lyrics."

"Yeah…" I said, shooting her a lopsided smile, "It's about a poor bloke who's madly in love with a girl, but she keeps pushing him away even though he is increasingly persistent. Sound familiar Lily?"

To my surprise, she looked at the ground and blushed.

I shifted uncomfortably on the rock. "So Lily, what's your favorite song?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "A moment like this." She said simply.

"The Kelly Clarkson one, or the Leona Lewis version?"

She shrugged. "I don't care, they're both the same. I just like the lyrics, it's really a very beautiful song."

She bit her lip and fiddled with a loose strand of hair in thought. "So, uh- who's your favorite teacher?"

I thought about that one for a bit. "I guess I'd have to say Mcgonagall."

She snorted. "Really? She's given you more detentions than all the other teachers combined."

I shrugged. "I know. And I know she acts all strict and perfect, but underneath she's just a badass with plenty of Gryffindor team spirit."

Again, Lily snorted.

"I'm serious," I said, "Before our game against Hufflepuff, she didn't give me detention once, even though me and Sirius trashed a chandelier and exploded an imploding cabinet."

"How did you manage that?" She asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Not the point." I said, "The point is, she let me off on that just so I could schedule practice every day that week."

"And did you?"

"Well actually, Padfoot and I took a joyride on Filches mop-carrier, so we both ended up in the hospital wing for a few days-"

I snorted at the look of outrage on Lily's face. "But we still won. Don't worry."

She rolled her eyes. "As if I would ever worry about you Potter."

"And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean?"

She sighed and stood up, "I think you know what it means. Now lets go, it's kind of chilly up here."

I stood up too. "Three Broomsticks?"

She smiled at me, "Sounds good."

/-o0o-/

"Well this is…this is kind of nice Potter." I began awkwardly as we took a seat at one of the corner booths in the Three Broomsticks.

"Yeah." He said, "Just us, together in Hogesmede-"

"As friends." I cut across quickly.

"Yes, as friends." He repeated. "So, should I go get the drinks?"

"Yeah sure. Here's three sickles, get me a butterbeer." I tried to hand the sickles to him, but he wouldn't take them.

"No Lily. This is my treat." He said stubbornly.

"What? Just because I'm a girl, you have to go and be all alpha male on me! If you came here with Sirius you'd make him pay up. If you came with Peter you would too. And Remus-"

"I wouldn't make Remus pay." James cut in.

"Right. Bad example. I'm still paying, here." I shoved the coins into his palm, and that was that.

There was a bit of a line up at the counter so I sat down at the booth to wait. Presently, a small blonde woman with horned rimmed glasses and a large purse walked in. (Her purse looked like it was made of some kind of reptile skin.) She was talking to a rather large man with a bushy mustache and camera bag. She flicked her hand lazily towards the bar, "Get me a firewhisky." She snapped at him.

He quickly scurried up to the counter without even putting his camera bag down. In fact, it seemed to help him to push thru the crowd of smaller students.

The woman scanned the room as if looking for an empty table. I don't think there were any. Her eyes came to rest on me. Unfortunately, at the time I was sitting alone. She walked over towards me.

She had a silly looking fake grin on her face. It made her lip curl in a most unpleasant way. "Hello girl." She said as soon as she neared me.

I looked up at her, not quite sure what to say. She didn't wait for me to speak. "I see you're sitting alone. Why don't you go find some friends and sit with them? I need this table right now."

I looked at her incredulously. She couldn't be serious. I'd met plenty of rude people in my life, after all, I went to school with Potter, but this was pushing it. "Actually I'm not alone. My friend just went to go buy drinks." I said pointedly.

"Oh." She said, her grin slipping a bit. "Well then, I'll just sit here till they get back. To keep you company, you know."

She proceeded to pull out a chair and sit down. I raised an eyebrow but said nothing. We just stared at each other for a few moments. I had half a mind to ask her who the hell did she think she was and to please leave, but I refrained. Best not to make a scene.

"You really don't know who I am, do you?" she asked in a bright, falsely cheery voice.

"No I don't." I said simply.

"Well I'm Rita Skeeter. Nice to meet you."

I noticed she didn't ask my name so I didn't give it to her. I kept my mouth shut, yet again.

I think she was hoping for some kind of a reaction from me. "Rita Skeeter." She reiterated slowly, "I write for the daily profit. Surely you've heard of me. I just wrote a rather groundbreaking cover page article on St. Mungo's."

Something clicked in the back of my mind. I had heard that name before. "Oh, you mean the one where you accused all the healers there of theft against the ministry."

She paled a bit. "Yes that's it. Though I can assure you that they are requiring funding for their latest escapades that are completely unreasonable-"

"Oh, well excuse me if finding a cure for spattergroit is unreasonable!" I cried, angry now.

A few heads near us turned and began listening in on our conversation.

"Well of course it's admirable enough," She said, still putting on the charade of polite conversation in her sickly sweet voice, "But they've been attempting to do it for centuries and they're no farther now than they were in Medeival times-"

"Because they don't have sufficient funding-"

She cut across me rather harshly, "Well that's hardly the ministry's problem. They should just charge their patients more-"

"St. Mungo's is a profit free organization-"

"And that's why they have to leech off the ministry! They shouldn't ask for money if they're just going to fritter it away on some silly cure that doesn't exist."

"It doesn't exist now, but it will!"

"What do you know?" she asked harshly.

"My mother died from spattergroit!" I all but screamed, by now we had captured the attention of about half the pub. I saw James hurriedly picking up our drinks and making winding his way towards us.

"Oh. Well I'm so sorry for your loss girl." She said, fake pouting and putting a hand on my shoulder. "It's ok. I understand."

I jerked away from her. "Don't touch me!" I spat.

"It's alright girl. I just want to help you. Why don't you tell me about your mom, what was she like? Charming? Witty? Kindhearted? Bruno, will you come here darling? Take a picture of me with this poor girl, will you? Her mother's died, poor dear." She pulled out a pad of paper and gestured towards her camera man. He abandoned the drinks and made his way over to us, just as James reached our table.

"What's going on here?" he asked, seeing me glaring at Rita, and she dabbing fake tears with her handkerchief.

However, when she saw James, her pathetically tragic look faded. She smiled jubilantly. "James Potter!" she said excitedly.

James looked surprised. "Do I know you?" he asked politely.

"Yes… Well no. But I'm Rita Skeeter."

James's face looked as blank as mine had, but she ignored it. "I follow the up and coming quidditch stars. You captained your team to victory this year, is that right?"

"Well yes but-"

"And how did it feel James? Satisfactory, Conclusionary? Emotional?"

He looked at her puzzled. "James and I were just leaving." I said, rather rudely, tugging him towards the exit.

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" She cried, grabbing a hold of James's arm, "Can't you two just stay for one tiny little interview?" She asked pleadingly.

It only took James one look at my face to see that I wanted to get out of there. "Sorry ma'am. We have to go now."

He tried to tug out of her grip, but winded up spilling a bit of his drink on her abnormally large pocketbook. As the butterbeer hit the lizard skin, it began to sizzle, and we watched in horror as the liquid somehow managed to burn a hole in the expensive looking material.

Rita shrieked when she saw what had happened to her bag and started digging into James's arm very hard with her claw like nails. I grabbed his arm too, and helped tug him out of her reach, before we both made a beeline for the door.

We got outside and headed down a few side streets to be sure she couldn't find us again. Even a few streets away, we could still hear her wailing miserably about her precious Brazilian imported pocketbook. As soon as we where sure we were out of hearing distance, we cracked up. I'm not sure what was so funny about any of that, but at the time it all just seemed hysterically hilarious, and I felt as though my sides might split open from laughing so hard.

Unfortunately, we didn't know it then, but we had just made a very dangerous enemy.

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A/N: Dun dun dun... And the plot thickens. Hopefully this chapter didn't disapoint, but even if it did, I have a feeling you're going to like the next chap. I haven't written it yet, but when I do I'll be sure to post it first chance I get. Take a second to leave a review if you want to make me smile.


	21. Plan U

_A/N: So here's the next chap. It's pretty long, but hopefully still enjoyable. _

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Plan U: Jealousy

"So how'd it go with Lily?" Asked Sirius, when I entered my dorm later that night.

Remus and Sirius were both seated on Sirius's bed having a swordfight with rubber chickens. However, when I stepped through the doorway they threw the chickens aside and looked up eagerly.

"No go, man." I sighed, plopping down on my bed, "She still won't go out with me."

"Sorry Prongs." Said Remus, "But at least you got to spend the day with her without getting hexed into oblivion.

"Yeah," I sighed dejectedly, "And I thought she was enjoying it too…But _no_, turns out we're just _friends._"

"Tough break mate." Said Sirius knowingly.

Just then a sound like a beached whale emitted from the bathroom. "Er- what was that?" I asked concernedly.

"Just Peter." Shrugged Sirius. "He's fine though, been in there like an hour."

I raised an eyebrow at that but chose to ignore the gurgling sounds resonating against the tiled floor. It sounded something like: _guphmlup ghuulump._

"So the good news is, now you can go to the dance with like anyone. I mean seriously Prongs, me and you have been the most eligible bachelors at this school for years now… Except now I have Mary so it's just you." Said Sirius benignly.

I groaned, "I'm not going to ask anyone but Lily." I said grimly.

He looked shocked, "Oh c'mon Prongs! You can have practically any girl at Hogwarts you want, and you're not going to ask anyone?!"

"Right." I said, "If I can't have Lily, I'm not just going to go hook up with some random slut."

"Prongs, are you feeling ok?" Asked Remus.

Sirius cut in, "Honestly, you haven't dated anyone in like a millennia. Don't forget we have a reputation to uphold here. If you turn into a dork too, then I'm going to be the only normal one in this group!"

I snorted, "You, normal? Haha. That's funny."

"I'm serious!" Sirius exclaimed.

"We know!" Said Remus and I at the exact same time.

"Oh, very mature guys."

_GHULUMP GHULUMP_

"Are you sure we shouldn't go help him?" I asked anxiously.

"Nah." Said Sirius, "I'm sure he's just fine." He grinned maliciously, which didn't exactly reassure me, but I wasn't really in the mood to go find out what kind of disgusting situation Wormtail had gotten himself into, so I just shrugged it off.

"I mean, I'd feel guilty going with anyone besides Lily. It'd be like betrayal." I said.

Remus looked thoughtful, "Not really. You asked her first and she said no, so if she gets angry just remind her of that."

"Plus," Added Sirius, "Lily'll probably end up with a date, and if you don't have anyone you'll just look like a complete loser."

I frowned at him, "I don't care."

"She might get jealous." Said Remus.

That caught my attention. I jerked my head slightly in his direction, "What?"

"I said she might get jealous if you bring someone else." Reiterated Remus.

"Really?" I asked eagerly.

"Sure." Said Sirius easily, "She's head over heels for you, anyone can see that, all she needs is a push in the right direction to make her realize it."

I thought about that for a second, "So you're saying… If I were to invite someone other than Lily to the dance, she couldn't get angry since I asked her first, but she might get jealous and realize she has feelings for me?"

"That's the gist of it anyways." Said Remus.

_Hmmmmmmm…. _I thought, maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all. "You guys really have to lay off the romance novels." I joked.

"Hey, I resent that!" Cried Sirius indignantly, "I love my Jane Austen!"

I arched an eyebrow, and Remus and I shared a look. "Ok then…" Remus said, awkwardly.

GHULUMP GHULUMP

"On second thought," Began Sirius, "Maybe I should go see what's up in there."

He emerged a few minutes later, covered in fluorescent green slime from head to foot. We both gave him questioning looks as he vanished the stuff. "Portable pond backfired, nothing serious." He said, by way of explanation. "I wouldn't go in there for a bit though, if I were you."

My eyebrow raised even higher, if that was even possible, "And Peter?"

"Transfigured into a giant frog." Said Sirius simply.

"Oh is that all?" said Remus sarcastically.

/-o0o-/

I had transfiguration first thing Monday morning. I sat in the last row, right next to Xenophilius Lovegood. He was an odd kid, with permanently crossed eyes and wiry powder-white hair. His name was kind of a mouthful, so most just called him Xeno when they spoke of his wild antics behind his back.

I didn't particularly enjoy sitting next to him, he was constantly sniffing the air and complaining about invisible pests that apparently inhabited the classroom. He didn't seem that interested in transfiguration either, which bugged me. He'd spend the entire class scribbling furiously in his notebook, crossing things out viciously and usually ending up with quite a bit of ink splattered on his nose. Incidentally, this did nothing to improve his slightly eccentric appearance.

He was doing just that today. I had placed a textbook vertically on the desk to protect myself from stray ink blotches, and was trying to ignore the incredibly annoying scratching sounds his quill was making and focus on the lesson.

Luckily, the bell sounded about five minutes later. I hurried to grab my things and head off to my next class, but apparently Xeno had other plans. I'm not sure exactly what he did, but the end result was that he "accidentally-on-purpose" spilled my inkwell all over my books. Needless to say I was livid. "Xeno, what the hell!?" I cried.

He looked up at me with a mildly surprised expression, "Oh sorry. I'll help you with that." He took his wand out, but he was kind of known for bad magic skills so I stopped him.

"No I'll do it."

I pulled my wand out of my robe and went to clean up the mess, but he caught it when I jabbed, and the only thing that happened was a few sparks emitting from the end. I glared at him.

"Do you want to go to the dance with me?" He asked out of the blue.

I was so surprised I almost asked him to repeat himself. Scratch that, I did. "Excuse me?" I asked.

"Do-you-want-to-go-to-the-ball-with-me?" Asked Xeno, like I was retarded or something.

I didn't want to be rude, I really didn't. Even though Xeno had just dumped my inkwell over, he was usually a nice kid. But that didn't mean I wanted to be seen with him in public. "Er- no thank you Xeno. I don't think I'm the kind of girl you'd want to go with. I'm horrible at dancing, I'd probably crush all your toes."

"I don't care." Said Xeno blandly.

"Oh well… Why don't you ask Nelly Pier?" Nelly was incredibly brilliant and pretty, but somewhat socially awkward.

"I already did. She's going with Remus." He said, looking at me intently, his wild eyes fixed on mine.

_Well cudos to Remus_, I thought miserably. "No Xeno. I er- just no."

He didn't seem the least bit phased. "Ok Lily." He grabbed his ink-free things and made his way out of the classroom.

I sighed, and flicked my wand. Instantly the ink disappeared. With another flick my books had packed themselves into my bag and I was headed out the door.

When I got out the door, it was to find my path blocked by a tall, blond Slytherin, who looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. She was standing in the doorway, talking to Potter, who was leaning against the wall in a thoroughly flirtatious manner. "Hey Potter." I said, once I had successfully navigated my way around the girl, "What's up?"

He looked up as if surprised to find me here, and maybe a little guilty, "Nothin. Just talking to Stacy."

I spared the Slytherin one quick glance. At least now I knew her name. "Um ok." I said, unsure why Potter was suddenly acting civil to his mutual enemies. "Any particular reason?" I asked.

"Well…" He started, his hand jumping up to his hair, "I was kind of wondering if maybe you wanted to go to the dance with me?"

"I already said no!" I cried indignantly.

"Not you. Stacy." He said.

My jaw dropped, and my insides throbbed as if someone had slapped me on the face. Several times.

"I'd love to." Said Stacy, speaking up for the first time.

I looked form Stacy, who was beaming, to Potter, who was smiling maniacally, stunned. A Slytherin. Potter was going out with a Slytherin!

"Lily, do you mind?" Asked Potter, not unkindly.

It was then that I realized I was standing right in the middle of them. All of a sudden I was an intrusion. I was unneeded. I was unwanted. I quickly stepped back to give them some space, and tried to rearrange the hurt look on my face.

"You don't mind, do you Lily?" Asked Potter politely.

I wanted to scream at him. To tell him yes I did mind. Why was he going out with a Slytherin? I thought he was supposed to be madly in love with me! But I didn't, I just stood there staring at him dumbly. "Still friends, right?" Asked James.

_Friends. _I thought, _Yes friends._ That awful, hateful phrase that I had used, now Potter was turning it against me. _Well two could play at that game, _I thought, as a wave of madness and insanity seemed to wash over me. And in that brief moment of anger and irrational thought process, that was when I made pretty much the dumbest decision I had all year. I went to go find Xeno.

/-o0o-/

I caught a glimpse of his robe just as he slipped under a tapestry, into a well known secret passage. I could tell it was his because it was frayed at the edges, from one of his, for want of a better term, "experiments".

I quickly hurried to catch up with him, he was just rounding the bend in the stairs when I slipped under the tapestry and called out his name. "Xeno wait!"

He halted immediately, and turned towards me. "What?"

"I er- I do want to go to the dance with you."

His face brightened, "Oh good. I'll meat you in the entrance hall at seven then?"

"Yeah." I said, hardly believing what had just come out of my mouth.

He turned around, a newfound spring in his step and kept walking. As soon as he was out of sight I put my head in my hands and groaned. _What had I done?_

It was in such a dreary condition that Potter found me, when he pulled back the tapestry and walked inside. "Did you seriously just ask Xeno _Lovegood_ to the dance?" Potter teased.

"At least he's not a Slytherin!" I shot back, not knowing why this had become a competition, and not caring in the slightest.

Potter grinned cockily at me, "Somebody's caught a taste of the green eyed monster…" He cooed.

I looked at him quizzically. "It means you're jealous." He explained.

I shot him a disgusted look. "I am not jealous." I said, stressing every syllable.

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Then if you're not jealous, why do you care?!"

"Oh, well excuse me if I'm just a little offended that the captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team, who is a sworn enemy against all things Slytherin, decides to alter his opinion just for some slut with large breasts and bleach blonde hair!"

"Hey, you were friends with that git, Snivillus."

"Yeah, and that turned out real well for me, didn't it Potter? Because of course, it's every girl's dream to obtain a stalker who follows her around during prefect duty and attempts to murder everyone who so much as touches her!"

He took a deep breath. "This isn't about Snape though, is it?"

"Of course it isn't Potter! It's about you, you bloody hypocrite!"

"What did I do?" He asked warily.

"What did you do? What did you do!? You are denser than a blast ended skrewt with an ear infection- you know that!"

"I thought skrewts didn't have ears-"

"You bloody well know what you did, and you bloody well better fix it!"

"How? I can't just cancel with Stacy, that's rude!"

"Since when have you ever cared about being polite!? I was never under the impression that you were a gentleman!"

"Well, you know what? I am! And it's your problem if you're jealous of Stacy! I asked you first, and you said no, so just deal with it!"

I was about to retaliate, but his last comment hit home, and it hurt. Bad. I blinked back tears and shouted at him, "YOU KNOW WHAT POTTER, YOU'RE A FUCKING ASSHOLE! AND I WOULDN'T DREAM OF GOING TO THAT FUCKING DANCE WITH YOU IF YOU WERE THE LAST GOOD LOOKING GUY ON EARTH!"

And with that, I turned on my heel and strode off, leaving him blinking dazedly in my wake, for about the gazillionth time this year, I might add.

/-o0o-/

As soon as Lily left, the tapestry was thrown aside, to reveal that Sirius, Remus and Mary had been standing there, and from the looks on their faces, listened to every word we said. "Library." Said Mary, "Now."

I shrugged and followed them there. The library was a wonderful place to enjoy a whispered conversation without raising suspicion, since it was required that you whisper in there. As soon as we got there, Mary led us to the very back of the gigantic room, and shoved me into a chair behind a secluded bookshelf. I looked at her bewilderedly, but she just glared at me, and then out of the blue, "You are the worlds biggest _Prat!_" She hissed.

Whoa…I didn't know where that came from. Mary was usually so nice. "I er-"

"No! No excuses James Potter. What you did was cruel on a hundred different levels, and you are going to sit there and hear me out!"

My eyes bugged. This could not be good. "What did I do?" I asked, rather stupidly.

Mary opened her mouth, probably to dis me again, but Sirius put a hand on her shoulder, effectively silencing her. "What she wants to say is that you are an absolutely inconsiderate jerk with the emotional range of a teaspoon."

"Why?" It just sort of came out, I didn't mean to say it.

"Why indeed…" Trailed Remus musingly, "Why, why, why?"

"I'll tell you why-" Started Mary, but Sirius beat her to the punch.

"You weren't supposed to ask Stacy out right in front of Lily, you idiot!"

Mary piped up, "You were supposed to ask her out in front of me, and then I would tell Lily. We had it all figured out."

"Gee- thanks for telling me guys. A little late now." I tried to shrug it off with a joke, but I knew I wouldn't be getting off that easily.

"But how could you do that to her?" Mary practically screeched. "She's my friend and that was so mean!"

"Hey, these two told me to." I said, gesturing to Sirius and Remus.

Remus sighed, "Yes, but think about it. She was standing right there. If you had seen the look on her face… It was going to hurt her anyways, but asking Stacy while Lily was right there, it just adds insult to injury."

I felt my face fall. That was the problem- I hadn't thought about it. I had wanted Lily to know I had asked someone else out, and I had figured that if she saw me do it that would be the best way to go. Apparently this was not the case. And now that I did take the time to think about it, I realized it was immensely cruel, and Lily had had every right to give me the thorough verbal beating I had just endured. However I didn't want to hear it from my friends as well. "I know guys. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it, I just didn't think. I'm going to go find Lily and apologize to her right now."

I went to get up, but Mary pushed me back down. "That's great James, really." She said, "But I think you should give her a little bit of time to cool down. Come back to the common room in a few hours, after I talk to her."

I considered this. It didn't seem like a bad idea. "Thank you Mary." I said sincerely, "You're a good friend."

She looked amused for a moment. "Lily was right about you." she said.

"What?"

"You are such a kiss up."

/-o0o-/

I spotted Lily sitting next to Mary in the common room a couple hours later. Mary looked at me pointedly before getting up and heading for her dormitory so I could take her empty chair. Lily didn't look up at me, she just continued gazing into the flames. "Lily I-" I began before she cut me off.

"Don't apologize Potter. For once in your life you did nothing wrong. I just overreacted is all." She said quickly without looking up at me.

I opened my mouth to protest and then realized that she'd just sorta apologized to me. Holy mother of Merlin! I just won that argument! "Who are you and what have you done with Lily?" I teased.

She finally looked up at me then, and shot me a wan smile. "You never miss a chance to crack a joke, do you?"

I shook my head.

"I love that about you, James." She said.

My eyes bugged. "Seriously Lily. You're starting to freak me out. Are you feeling ok?"

She looked puzzled. "What?"

"You just used love and James in the same sentence!" I exclaimed before I could stop myself.

She blushed chrism and looked down at the carpet. "No I didn't." She muttered embarrassedly.

"Yes you did." I said jovially.

"Well I meant it in a friendly way." She said.

"So we're still friends then?" I asked cautiously.

"I don't see why not."

I grinned. "Awesome Lily. We make a good team, you and I. And I'm sorry about asking Stacy out right in front of you. That was mean."

She grimaced, "Stop being a kiss up Potter. And I don't want to talk about the dance just now."

"All right." I said, "So what do you want to talk about?"

She shrugged, "Actually I'm kind of tired just now James, I think I'm going to turn in."

"Ok." I said, disappointed, as she gathered her books and headed to her dorm.

"Good night!" I called after her retreating form.

She looked around and smiled at me, but there was something hollow about it. I longed to follow her upstairs, to reach out to her, to comfort her, hold her. But I knew she wouldn't let me in just yet. I would just have to wait for now, and be thankful that our fragile peace had been somewhat restored.

* * *

_A/N: So next chapter is the dance, and then we'll see what happens from there. Reveiws make my day;)_


	22. Plan V

_A/N: Geeze, I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long. Things have been really crazy around here for a awhile. I mean seriously, there was a tornado that passed within a mile of my house. And I don't live in the midwest. I live in New England! And if you know anything about New England, you know that tornado's are very, very rare. So yeah, I've been a little bit preocupied lately. _

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* * *

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Plan V: The Dance

The morning of the dance. I woke up to the sound of Mary squealing and jumping up and down, while Alice threatened all manner of unpleasant deaths if she didn't shut up. So really, it was a typical morning.

Since it was Saturday, we took our time getting dressed and heading down to the great hall for breakfast. Thankfully the marauders weren't there, because I don't think I could stand another minute of watching Stacy gazing longingly at Potter through the corner of my eye. Mary did most of the talking since me and Alice were only half awake, which basically means she blabbered on about this dress, and those shoes, and this new piece of gossip, while Alice and I 'uh-huh'd' and 'um-hmmm'd' whenever she stopped for air.

"-And then Christine said she'd rather make out with a flobberworm than go to the dance with him, and then Peter looked like he was about to cry, so Sirius stepped up and said that can be arranged, and the next thing you know he waved his wand and one of those slimy leeches was clamped over her mouth! You should have heard her scream. But honestly, poor Peter. Sirius is a good friend, isn't he?"

We looked at her blankly for a moment, unsure of why she had stopped talking, and then realized we were supposed to give some kind of response, "Uh-huh." I said, just as Alice said, "Um-hmm."

Oblivious that we weren't really listening, Mary plunged on, "So anyways, I want to wear something really special for this dance. I was thinking of wearing my blue strapless, but now that just seems too plain. Especially since Sirius's dress robes are black. I should probably wear something black, but the only back dress I have is too long for this sort of thing, I mean I wore it to my Aunt Dolly's funeral. I suppose I could try to charm it…" She trailed off.

"Uh-huh." Said Alice, poking at her cereal absentmindedly.

"But I'm sure I'll figure something out. And speaking of dresses… Lily, that dark blue one you were going to wear, mind if I change it a bit? It really could be quit pretty if it didn't look like it belonged to a nun."

"Nun, what?" I asked, hearing my name and wanting to know what she was talking about.

"You're dress looks like it belongs in to a nun. So can I?"

Not quite sure what she was asking, but figuring I'd better just stick with the ambiguous replies, I agreed with her. I would come to regret that decision very soon.

/-o0o-/

"MARY, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!" I screamed about an hour before the dance was scheduled to start.

I had already taken a shower and dried and straightened my hair. All I had to do was change into my dress, put some makeup on and brush my hair out one last time. All easily doable within an hour with magic at my disposal, but I had just left the bathroom to find that my dress was no longer recognizable.

It used to be a simple, slightly low-cut blue dress with thick straps; now however, it was a monstrosity.

I could tell right away it was Mary's doing. Not from the incredibly thin straps, which crisscrossed, leaving a bit of material on an otherwise open back. Not from the plunging neckline, which was much too low for my taste, or from the ugly dark green color. No, I think it must have been the sequins. Yes, sequins, all over the bloody thing. I swear to Merlin, I was going to look like a bloody beacon if I put this on.

Mary bounced into the room a moment later, already dressed in her shortened black dress and completely ready to go. "Yes?" She asked, tilting her head slightly to the side, her curls bobbing merrily, the picture of angelic innocence.

I took a deep breath to calm myself. "Change. My. Dress. Back. Now." I stated threateningly.

Mary was all smiles. "Well why would I want to do that?" She asked jovially.

I gritted my teeth and responded, "Because if you don't, I am going to avada you."

Mary's smile only deepened, "Oh Lily, you have to stop uttering death threats at your friends. It makes you sound clinically unstable." She said sweetly.

I shot her my best death glare, and she flinched slightly, "Just fix the dress Mary." I stated.

She looked down at her shoes. "I can't." she said.

"What?" I asked.

"I can't. I put anti counter-curse jinxes on it, so you wouldn't be able to change it back." She looked up at me with these big, lost puppy dog looking eyes, begging forgiveness and mercy.

Something inside me melted in that look, seriously Mary had that affect on you. She'd once gotten Sirius to sneak down to Hogesmede and buy her lipstick, simply by 'asking'.

I caved. "Why?" I asked, though not as furiously as before.

"Because Potter will just drool over you in this, and even though you won't admit it, I know that's what you want." Answered Mary quickly, bouncing back to her usual quirky self without missing a beat.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "I'm going to the dance with Xeno, not Potter. Remember Mary?"

Now it was Mary's turn to roll her eyes, "Obviously Lily. But no offense or anything, Xeno's only going to notice what you're wearing if some kind of imaginary mosquito thingamajig is crawling on you, and even then he probably won't care."

I tried to look affronted by this, but honestly it didn't really bother me. It was the truth after all. "But why all the sequins Mary? The whole point of the blue dress was so that people wouldn't notice me, and now that's definitely not going to happen."

Mary held up a hand and counted off her fingers, "One, I'll bet you five galleons Xeno's going to show up in something preposterous, so if you hang out around him, somebody's going to notice you. Two, the whole point of this dress is so that Potter notices you, and what better way to do that than to put shiny things all over it? The kid's one step up from ape, so this should catch his attention easily. And three, I think they look nice, and you will too, once you put it on."

I shook my head. "I don't think so Mary."

Mary pouted, "Just try it Lily."

I shook my head, "Please? For me?" She asked, sticking out her bottom lip in a pathetic pout and widening her eyes like a child just denied a trip to the sweetshop.

I sighed. "Fine. Give me the bloody thing and turn around."

In an instant her pathetically tragic look faded, to be replaced by a devious smile as she bounded over to the dress and offered it to me. I took the thing and she turned around, "Honestly Lily, you're going to love it."

_Someday she was going to be an award winning actress, _I thought wistfully as I quickly changed.

When I was done, I stepped into the bathroom to see myself in the full sized mirror. Actually, and it pains me to stay it, Mary had pretty good taste. It didn't look half bad. The dress fit perfectly, melding to my curves well, but not so tight as to be uncomfortable. The only thing that had to go was the sequins. I couldn't deal with all those sparkling gems, just looking into the mirror was like squinting at a strobe light.

Mary skipped in a few seconds later. "Well, what'd you think?"

"The sequins have to go." I said, "If I can't take them off magically, I'll do it by hand."

I saw Mary bite her lip in the mirror, "All the sequins?" she asked, pouting again.

_Damn her and that magical pout._ "Do you know how long it took me to make this dress Lily? Do you?"

I didn't think I wanted to know actually. "Fine, most of the sequins, I'll leave a few."

Mary seemed to consider. "Only if you let me take them off. I don't want it to rip."

I sighed, and headed into the dorm to change. "Fine. But I do this under extreme protest."

I caught sight of Mary's smirk before she closed the bathroom door. "You just keep telling yourself that Lily."

/-o0o-/

I was waiting by the doors to the great hall with the rest of the gang, searching the crowd for a glimpse of Lily. I probably should have been looking for Stacy, but it was Lily I really wanted to see.

I stood anxiously, unconsciously checking my nonexistent watch every few seconds, much to the Sirius's annoyance. "Just stand still, you look like you've been confounded or something." He hissed.

I tried to stand still, I really did, but in that instant Lily appeared in the hall, and I couldn't help the fact that my jaw practically dropped of the roof of my mouth. She looked- there was no other way to say it- HOT!

Her dress was dark green, and decked with tons dazzling sequins, which completely brought a shine to those glorious emerald eyes. She seemed positively radiant, flowing down the marble staircase with impeccable grace, smiling jubilantly, not to mention the plunging neckline, revealing a generous amount of er- chest.

I watched as she neared me, and had a slight panic attack when I realized that I was completely frozen stiff. _No- can't let Lily see me like this. Must close mouth- Oh god here she comes! Must close mouth. Must not stare at breasts-_

To late apparently, Lily and her friends neared me, and she scowled, crossing her arms across her chest.

It took me a second to pull myself together, but I did eventually. "Uh, hey Lily." I said, trying to sound cool and collected, but probably doing a pretty lousy job of it.

Lily smirked. "Enjoying the view Potter?"

"Yes. Er- I mean no. Not that you don't look good or anything. I mean- Um, what I mean to say is that… I think you look absolutely gorgeous. Not that I was looking or anything." I stumbled to answer her, trying to form a coherent sentence without offending her or making myself look like a complete fool. Unfortunately, I don't think I succeeded on the latter.

Lily laughed. "I'll take that as a yes then."

Just then, Stacy bounded over, and Lily's scowled. I'd noticed that she did that often when Stacy was around. I guess Remus was right, she was just jealous. However instead of feeling triumphant like I'd expected to feel, I just felt cold hard guilt whenever I saw those lovely eyes of hers darken like that. I didn't like being the source of her pain. After tonight, I hoped that all would come to an end. I had a plan, and this time I hoped against hope it wouldn't end in utter disaster.

Slowly, people began trickling into the hall, and were lined up for the class photo. No one was the least bit surprised to see that Xeno Lovegood had turned up in bright orange dress robes, a fact that Sirius was quick to point out to Lily, and which led her to curse him cross-eyed for the school photo. Hehe. He'll never live that one down.

Soon it was time for the dance to start. We all crowded towards the double doors to the hall. Dumbledore stood at the front of the throng, with his back to the door, waiting to make the final announcement before the ball commenced. He cleared his throat, and we all heard his voice magically amplified, resonating throughout the room. "Ladies and Gentlemen of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, we are pleased to welcome you to Hogwarts first Annual Graduation Ball. In honor of this special occasion, we have decided that the first dance of the ball shall be shared between the head boy and girl of this school. However, as I'm sure you all know by now, Eon Pickering is in the Hospital wing right now, being treated for dragon pox, and is, most regrettably, in no fit state to dance. Therefore, we have decided to pass down this honor to the quidditch captain of the winning team this year. So now, if you'll please come forth, Lily Evans, and James Potter."

Lily gasped and all color drained from her face. For my part, I must not have looked too good either. Though a dance with Lily could be most pleasant, a dance with Lily in front of our entire year, now that could turn into a nightmare. All the same I put on a brave face and grasped her hand, squeezing it quickly for support, before leading the way to the front of the hall.

/-o0o-/

Potter smiled slightly at me. I tried to smile back but it must have come out as more of a grimace. He tentatively put a hand on my waist and his other hand in mine. I wasn't really that into ballroom dancing, but I knew enough to put my hand on his shoulder. I looked up and our eyes locked for a moment before the music started and he gently nudged me towards the center of the dance floor.

Before I knew it we were moving in time with the slow beat, twirling in the center of the empty dance floor. I could feel everyone's eyes on me as Potter gently veered me around and around. I was glad he was steering because I was pretty much scared stiff. He was used to being the center of attention. He was the quidditch star who played in front of the entire school, I was just the student who hid behind her books in the library.

Potter pulled me towards him suddenly, so that I spun a bit and ended up backed against his muscular chest. In an instant his lips were at my ear, I kept in step, but shuddered a bit and my insides felt like they were about ready to explode.

"Lily," he whispered huskily, "Is it ok if I spin you?"

I couldn't speak. I just nodded slightly. That's all it took apparently, for in a moment he stepped back a bit and I spun outwards slowly, stopping only when both our arms were completely outstretched. Just before he pulled me back towards him I chanced a look at our audience. Contrary to my expectancies, no one was sniggering at us. I saw Mary and Alice giving me a huge thumbs-up, and Sirius and Remus were both grinning at me like they'd just lit the teachers lounge on fire. I saw Dumbledore nodding in approval, as well as Mcgonagall, who surprisingly enough, was actually smiling at us.

Potter pulled me back towards him, I smiled for the first time as I allowed myself to twirl into his arms. When we were straitened out, I nudged Potter in the direction of our friends, we spun past Alice with Frank, then Peter, then Sirius and Mary locked in a close embrace, then Remus, and finally Severus who I noticed had a funny look on his face. Almost painstaking.

The music kept playing, and we kept dancing. In a few moments Dumledore took Mcgonagall by the hand and led her onto the dance floor. After that, students started gradually filing onto the dance floor. By the time the floor was a bit more full, I was feeling much more confident and comfortable. Potter wasn't half bad at dancing. So far we'd kept the foot trampling to a bare minimum, and, though it pained me to admit it, I was actually having a pretty good time.

We stepped and whirled in time with the music, weaving through the throng of students with ease. We passed Alice and Frank dancing in very close confines and I caught Mary's eye as she all but dragged Sirius onto the dance floor. He looked absolutely thrilled of course. James grinned apologetically at Sirius and I steered him towards the center of the floor. The crowd of students here was densely packed. Me and Potter were pushed together a bit too close for comfort. I shuddered as our hips were pressed together, and my hands slid to his back, his hands were now both firmly planted on my hips.

Our faces were mere inches from each other, I glanced at his face and saw he was smiling at me. I smiled timidly back at him, sure my brick-red face and heavy breathing would give me away. "You know, you're not half bad Lily." Said Potter benignly.

"Well thank you." I managed to choke out, "You're not so bad yourself."

Potter's smile deepened. "Did Lily Evans seriously just compliment me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Why do you find that so surprising?"

"You've never done that before."

I thought back a bit. It was kind of difficult. All the music and my close proximity to Potter were rather distracting, "Hmmmm. I think you're right. I'm full of surprises today, aren't I?"

He grinned. "Sure are."

Before I knew what was happening he dipped me, very quickly and then brought me back up just as fast. "So are you." I said dazedly.

"So am I what?"

"Never mind."

The song was coming to a close now. We spun around slowly and Potter twirled me under his arm once more before the song ended and we broke apart, both panting slightly. "Wow Lily I-"

But he was interrupted as Stacy came bounding into view. "Mind if I cut in?" she asked, not even waiting for my answer before she grabbed hold of Potter. The music started up again, a faster beat this time, and Potter was pulled away from me. He smiled apologetically at me and then he was lost in the throng of twisting bodies. A bit disappointed, I exited the dance floor and went to go look for Xeno.

/-o0o-/

I found Xeno staring intently at one of the old oak columns at the rear of the hall. I tapped him on the shoulder, "Hey, what's up?"

He looked up at me, vaguely surprised, and said, "It's amazing. If you watch closely you can see actual wood-crab spirits at work here."

"What are wood-crab spirits?" I asked warily.

"Oh, they're like invisible magical cockroaches. They pray on expensive wood, usually mahogany. See, look there, you can see some of the wood magically shredding away before our very eyes."

I looked where he was pointing, but saw nothing. "Um Xeno-"

"Mhhhhhhm." He said, not looking away from the column.

"Why don't we go look at some fascinating mythical creature somewhere else, ok? People are starting to stare."

He looked up at me with a glazed expression, as if realizing I was there for the first time. "Ok. I got us drinks. Here."

He gave me a glass of orange punch and we went to go sit down at one of the benches in the back. I took a sip of the punch, it tasted ok, but there was definitely something funny about it. I hoped Potter and Sirius hadn't managed to get their hands on it. If they had, this was certainly going to be an interesting evening to say the least.

"Hey Xeno, does your punch taste kind of funny?"

He looked down at his half drained glass. "Oh. That's just because I added a bit of infused earthly spirit into it."

"You what?" I spluttered.

"In other words, I added just a pinch of dirt."

I spit my drink out quickly. "On second thought, I don't think I'm too thirsty."

Xeno had already drained his glass and was now eyeing mine, "If you don't want it, can I-"

"Here. Take it." I said, all but shoving the thing into his hands. At least now I knew where all his madness came from.

I looked over and saw Alice and Frank making their way over to us. They were both a bit out of breath. "Having fun?" I teased.

"Yeah." Said Alice. She was eyeing Xeno, who was now examining some fascinating imaginary specimen under our bench. "You look like you're having a blast."

"Oh yeah." I said sarcastically, smiling in spite of myself. Then I caught sight of Potter and that skanky Slytherin dancing in close confines and the smile was wiped off me face. "Does anyone have a breath mint?" I asked, trying to make my mind focus on something else besides the way Potters hands kept sliding lower and lower down her waist.

"I do." Said Sirius, now joining us.

He held out a small blue mint. I took it and examined it closely, "Is this one of those stink pellet ones?" I asked.

Sirius smiled innocently. I smelled it, "Ewwww! Dragon-"

"There you are Sirius! I've been looking all over for you!" Mary came bounding into view. "Come on, I like this song."

She started dragging him away towards the dance floor. He looked at me with a pleading expression, but I only smiled sweetly and threw the stink-pellet in the trash. Frank and Alice laughed and sat down next to us.

We talked amiably for awhile, and after a few minutes, Remus and Nelly joined us as well.

Shortly thereafter, Xeno and Nelly disappeared, apparently she shared some of his crazed beliefs and Xeno was eager to show off some wonderful specimen he'd found over by the punch bowl. Remus didn't seem to care much. In fact, when another song started up again, he asked me to dance with him and I gladly accepted.

"Hey, you're actually pretty good." I said to Remus after a few minutes of dancing.

He blushed. "My mom- she er- made me sign up for dance classes when I was little." He stammered.

I smiled, and reached up to tussle his sandy blonde hair, "You're so cute."

"Don't say that again, or James is going to murder me in my sleep tonight." He teased, gesturing to James, who was glaring at us from the punchbowl.

I winked at him before a rather tall couple stepped in front of us, blocking my view.

"So how come you don't care that you're not with Nelly?" I asked, after a moment of staring wistfully through the crowd in the hope of catching Potter's reaction.

He grimaced, "Lets just say, she dances like she has two- no three- left feet."

"Three? Wow, that bad huh?" I asked jovially.

"Yup. But she looks like she's having fun with Xeno."

I followed Remus's train of sight and saw that Xeno and Nelly where dancing over by the stage. Neither of them where doing the dance at all right, in fact it looked something like a cross between a waltz, the chicken dance, and the Macarena. If that was even possible. We spun over towards them and I caught a bit of their conversation.

"-You don't say? I always believed in wrackspurts, but my uncle says that's just nonsense. Have you ever heard of the blithering humdinger?"

"Yes! I saw one once- in Peru."

"You went to Peru?"

"Yes. To fish for freshwater plinkies.-"

"Love at first sight…" I simpered facetiously.

Remus laughed. "Speaking of love, here comes your own personal lover boy now."

I looked up to see Potter approaching us. We stopped dancing.

"Hey Prongs." Remus greeted him.

He grinned. "Hey, mind if I cut in?"

Remus relinquished his grip on my arm and nodded. Somehow I felt as though I'd just been traded like a pack of wizard cards. I was about to open my mouth to retort, when a new, faster song started up and Potter gripped me firmly around the waste with both hands- which somehow resulted in temporary memory loss as I tried unsuccessfully to keep a blush from rising to my cheeks.

For something to do, I put my arms around Potter's neck, and smiled up at him. An instant later, we started dancing, and Remus had mysteriously disappeared.

We swayed to the beat, a bit out of tune at first, but gradually we figured it out. As soon as I was sure my feet weren't going to trample Potter's, I chanced a look up and sniggered as I saw Remus and Stacy dancing in a corner near Xeno and Nelly, gazing into each others eyes as though transfixed. "Looks like you lost your girl Potter." I teased.

He followed my train of sight, "Yeah well, I could say the same for your date."

I shrugged, "Pity I don't care."

James grinned, "Pity I don't either."

I was about to open my mouth to make some witty comment or other, when a large, burly Slytherin and his partner practically barreled into us, pushing us towards the center of the dance floor, and much, much closer towards each other.

I stifled a gasp with some difficulty when Potter continued dancing, even though our hips were now firmly pressed together. His hips grinded against mine in a most peculiar manner, which was not at all unpleasant, but which tinged my cheeks in a permanent pink, a detail Potter was quick to notice.

"You're blushing," he whispered huskily, moving his lips towards my ear, so only I could hear.

My skin tingled just from the feel of his breath. I bit my lip to restore my cheeks to their normal color. "No I-I'm not." I said in a quavering voice.

He smirked then, that arrogant, teasing smirk that made me want to wipe it off his perfect features in his instant. I cast around fervently for something I could do, and decided to retaliate in the only way I knew how, proving that two could play at his little game.

I moved one hand from it's position on Potter's back, and gently placed it on his cheek, caressing his cheekbone with tedious precision. I noticed his eyes widening, but unfortunately his cheeks stayed as they were.

With renewed determination, I withdrew my hand barely an inch from his skin and lowered it towards his chest. Leaving it there, and slowly trailing downwards, relishing the feel of his rock hard muscles, almost as much as I relished the triumph rising in me when my hand nearly reached the end of it's journey, and Potters eyes widened to the size of saucers, his cheeks noticeably flushing. "Who's blushing now?" I whispered conspiratorially, grinding my hips up against his, surprised to feel a telltale lump, rising somewhere down south.

It was my turn to smirk, and Potter didn't like that at all. So naturally, he would try to wipe that smirk off my face, and what better way to do it than to kiss me? And of course in that moment I couldn't resist him. Hell, I couldn't resist Potter on a good day, but right now I probably could have thrown off all my clothes and shagged him right there. So naturally I leant forward to kiss him, just as he did the same. And naturally our lips would have met, our kiss would have been completely gut wrenching and heartfelt, had not a certain marauder named Sirius completely ruined the moment by sprinting through the dance floor, toppling practically everyone over like a stack of domino's, and very nearly giving me a concussion as my forehead collided painfully with Potter's.

"Ouch!" We both cried, rubbing our heads in unison, just as Mary came barreling by, screaming bloody murder after Sirius. Everyone watched, stunned as Sirius sprinted from the hall, Mary hot on his heels. I looked over towards the teachers to see if they were going to chase after them, but Mcgonagall just picked herself up, and shook her head. After seven long years of battle waged against the marauders, she had finally cracked. Potter and I shared identically grins at this, and the thought of what kind of horrible predicament Sirius was in at this moment, as we struggled to our feet. This was turning out to be quit an interesting night.

/-o0o-/

After that unfortunate incident, I didn't see Sirius or Mary for the rest of the night. Hopefully we didn't find their dead bodies splayed out in the hall come morning.

Potter left me for a little while to go talk to the DJ, who happened to be a rather grumpy looking house elf.

I watched amusedly, as he appeared to argue with the little fella, whose face had turned brick red and was pointing a stubby finger at him accusingly, as a mother might her unruly children. For his part, James seemed to be waving a little disk in front of the creatures eyes, I think it might have been a CD. Eventually he grew frustrated at the little guy and pulled out his wand. The elf eyed it warily, finally giving in and snatching the disk from his grasp. James walked back to me smiling smugly.

"What was all that about?" I asked.

He smiled maliciously, "Oh you'll see." He said, and then much softer, "And now we have a coatroom with our name on it. And some unfinished business to cover." Before he all but pushed me through a small blue door.

/-o0o-/

"Potter, what the-"

But I cut her off before she could continue. My lips crashed against hers, and for the first time, she didn't hesitate, but rather began kissing me back hungrily. I smiled slightly as her lips glided against mine, waiting for the song to start up, _her _song...

_What if I told you  
It was all meant to be  
Would you believe me?  
Would you agree?  
It's almost that feeling  
That we've met before  
So tell me that you don't think I'm crazy  
When I tell you that love has come here and now…_

As the music drifted lazily across us we began kissing passionately. Her lips were sweet as anything, her eagerness surprising, but not at all unwelcome. I put my arms around her, tugging her delicate frame closer to me. I gently prodded her upper lip, and she opened it slightly, allowing me to gain access.

_A moment like this  
Some people wait a lifetime  
For a moment like this  
Some people search forever  
For that one special kiss  
Ohh I can't believe it's happening to me  
Some people wait a lifetime  
For a moment like this_

And it was in that instant that the magic happened, it was like a tidal wave broke, the tumultuous spray of water crashing down on us, cascading us in lust and warmth. I closed my eyes and just absorbed it all. The wonderful, fulfilling feel of her lips against mine, her warm body pressed against me, her hands messing up my permanently messed-up hair….

_Everything changes, but beauty remains  
Somethings so tender  
I can't explain  
Ohh well I may be dreaming  
But till I awake  
Can't we make this dream last forever  
And I cherish all the love that we shared_

_A moment like this  
Some people wait a lifetime  
For a moment like this  
Some people search forever  
For that one special kiss  
Ohh I can't believe it's happening to me  
Some people wait a lifetime  
For a moment like this_

It was the perfect moment. In that instant all my fears and misgivings were crushed, all worry evaporated. It was just me and Lily, alone in the world, nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed but her lips, her feel, her very presence. I didn't want it to ever end. I felt I'd rather suffocate than come up for air and end this perfect moment.

_Could this be the greatest love of all  
I wanna know that you will  
Catch me when I fall  
So let me tell you this_

_A moment like this  
Some people wait a lifetime  
For a moment like this  
Some people search forever  
For that one special kiss  
Ohh I can't believe it's happening to me  
Some people wait a lifetime  
For a moment like this_

Because in that instant, everything just felt so right. This was how it was supposed to be. Lily and I, together till the end. With no reservations, no misgivings, no guilt. I knew, in that one miraculous moment, that nothing else in the world mattered, but Lily, and I, together, and forever.

…_Some people wait a lifetime, for a moment like this…_

It wasn't until the song came to a close that we finally broke apart. I looked at Lily's face carefully, she was flushed, but smiling radiantly.

"Lily…" I said softly, "I love you."

Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in a large 'o'. "James I-"

I put a finger on her swollen lips to silence her. "I understand. Just go think about it."

She bit her lip, then nodded, and hurried up the stairs towards the door that led back into the hall. When she had almost reached the top, her shoe caught on the stair and fell off, however she just kept on going. I thought about fetching it and bringing it to her, but in a moment she returned and shoved her foot back into the shoe, grinning down at me embarrassedly.

I smirked pleasantly at her, and watched until her dazzling dress was out of sight.

I couldn't help grinning as soon as she was gone. This evening, Lily, absolutely everything about her, was simply perfect. Just like a fairytale.

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_A/N: Alright, so before you tell me that the last part was absolutely the cheesiest thing you've ever read, just know that there's sort of a reason I wrote it this way, which will be explained further in the next few chapters. But hopefully the rest of the chapter was good, I wanted this one to be special, which somehow translated into really, really long. I'm not sure if that was for the better or for the worse. You tell me._


	23. Plan W

_A/N: Ok people, so here's the deal. I just found today that I'm going camping for a few days, and so obviously, no internet. And since I love you all so much I decided to type up another chapter before I go, even though I should really be packing instead. So hopefully you all enjoy this chapter, because I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again, probably not till at least Tuesday, sorry._

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Plan W: Thinking

The thing about Mary was, you couldn't keep anything from her. She had like this uncanny radar for all things awkward and uncomfortable, and if you didn't tell her, she'd get it out of you somehow.

Of course, that's exactly what happened when I met her in the dorm after the dance.

I walked in and saw Mary, sitting on her bed, running a comb through her now wavy hair. Apparently she'd finished murdering Sirius and disposing of all the evidence. "Where's Alice?" I asked.

"She went to go take a shower." Replied Mary offhandedly, "So how come it took you so long to get up here?" she asked, without moving her gaze from her slightly frizzy hair.

I plopped down on my bed, and turned to face her. "Oh, umm I ran into a bit of trouble with one of the moving staircases." I blurted out lamely.

"Mmmm hmmmm…" She said, "And why didn't you just take the main stairway like everyone else?"

"Er- you know… It was crowded, so I decided to take a shortcut…"

She looked up at me for the first time and winked. "And how'd you find the shortcut? Did Potter show you?"

It was then that I realized I'd already lost. "Yes. Ok. So I was with Potter. But nothing happened. _Nothing_." I stressed the last word but she didn't seem to get it.

She raised an eyebrow, "Oh really, so the fact that your shoe is on backwards means absolutely nothing at all?"

I looked down at my feet, and sure enough, my toes were sticking through the backing. I couldn't help it, I started to laugh like a crazy person, "How the hell did I manage that?" I choked out between fits of giggles. "How on earth did I not notice that? I climbed up like ten flights of stairs!"

"Aha!" cried Mary victoriously. "So you were still on the first floor!"

"Wow… Good observation little Ms. Detective!" I said sarcastically.

She just rolled her eyes sarcastically, "I'm serious Lily. The truth will out!"

"Huh?" I said.

"Oh… I thought it was a muggle phrase."

"It's Shakespeare."

"Exactly!"

I just shrugged, not exactly sure what point she had just proven. "So," she said briskly, "Did you kiss?"

Her straightforward question caught me off guard. I didn't want to lie, but I really didn't want her to know because I'm sure she would never let me live it down. "No." I mumbled, looking down at the floor.

"You're such a bad liar, Lily." She sighed, "So how was it?"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold up a second. How did you know I was lying?"

Mary rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically, "It's just so _obvious_ Lily. Every time you lie, you look at your feet and you mumble. And, you answered my question just a second too late, so I know there's something you're trying to hide from me."

"Maybe I'm just tired, and my reflexes aren't as acute as usual." I honestly wasn't hoping to win this argument, just stall her a bit. There was still the slightest chance that she'd forget our previous topic of conversation.

But evidently that was not to be, "Don't change the subject Lily." She snapped, "So your first kiss, was it spectacular?" she waggled her eyebrow at me in a thoroughly comical manner.

I snorted, "You're such a romantic Mary."

"Again with the subject changing!" She exclaimed, "You're going to be the death of me Lily, I swear."

I laughed, "Well good, then we won't have to put up with your interrogations every time you think something interesting has happened!"

She fake pouted, "Lily, that was mean."

I smiled, "Sorry Inspector Nosy!" I picked up my pillow and threw it at her.

She put up her hands and caught it just in time, "Oh c'mon Lily, you know you love me!"

She hurled the pillow back at me, and I caught it. "Oh really?" I teased, while simultaneously standing up and taking a swing at her with the pillow.

She squealed when the pillow hit her, "Oh this means war!" she shrieked, jumping to her feet and descending upon me, armed with her own lumpy pillow.

In response, I swung at her again, but she blocked my feeble attempt and bopped me on the head. I whacked her on the shoulder, and she gritted her teeth and lunged at me, causing me to lose balance and fall onto my bed. I tried to get up, but she pushed me back down and drew her wand. "Spill." She snapped.

I sighed, "For a little person, you sure are pushy."

She frowned, "I'm not little, I'm petite. And I'm not pushy, I'm assertive."

"Of course." I rolled my eyes, "Can you at least let me get up, this is awkward."

She complied and we both sat up on my bed. "So…" she began.

I mimicked her. "So."

"Oh c'mon Lily, don't make me force-feed you veriterserem." She threatened.

"Fine." I said curtly, "It's not very interesting anyways. Potter sort of abducted me, and brought me into the coatroom behind the stage. He requested a song for me, and then while it was playing, we sort of made out."

"You 'sort of made out'? And you think I'm the ambiguous one!" Mary exclaimed.

"I never said that." I stated.

"Oh, maybe it was Alice. Whatever. Is Potter a good kisser?"

I found myself blushing, "Exceedingly good." I said before I could stop myself.

Mary's face lit up like a child on Christmas morning. "Oh Lily!" she squealed, bouncing up and down on the springy mattress, "This is so exciting. So are you two finally together?"

I shook my head, "No."

Mary's grin slipped into a frown, "What do you mean 'no', Lily? You two were made for each other."

I bit my lip. "I don't know about that Mary. Maybe you should just forget about it and mind your own business."

She looked like a five year old who'd just dropped their ice cream cone. "All right Lily." She said slowly, "I'll just keep my nose out of your business from now on then."

She gave me a sad look. I expected to feel relieved that she'd finally put a halt to her little Hogwarts Inquisition but I didn't, I just felt a horrible, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Mary was only trying to help after all, I reasoned, and maybe, for once in my life, I might actually be able to use her advice.

"Wait Mary." I said, putting my hand out to stop her from getting up. "I need your help."

"Hmmmm…" her radar was back on in a flash, "What is it Lily?"

I sighed, "I wasn't completely truthful about us not going out. I mean Potter wants to go out with me, and after tonight….Well…. He told me he loves me Mary. He's never said that before, but I actually thought he might have meant it."

She tilted her head and looked at me with scrutiny, "How can he know he loves you after just one kiss?" she asked.

"Ahhh…Well…The thing is… That wasn't our first kiss. It was more like our third."

Her eyes widened. "And how come I haven't heard about this yet? Seriously Lily, I'm hurt."

"Sorry." I mumbled.

Mary leaned forward a bit, "All right Lily. You should probably tell me everything. Start from the beginning and don't leave out any of the juicy little details this time."

Which is exactly what I did.

I was surprised to find that it actually felt good to finally tell someone all this. Mary was a great listener. She barely interrupted except to laugh out loud at some particularly funny parts. She was especially amused by the part about Potter using the Polyjuice potion to turn into her, and the time when he sang to me.

By the time I was finished, nearly an hour had gone by. "I wonder where Alice is?" I said, as I finally looked down at my watch.

"Oh, probably off with Frank." Said Mary offhandedly. "But wow Lily, that was a good story."

I smiled slightly, "Uhhh… Gee thanks. I guess I'm glad you find my life so interesting, in a weird, freaky, stalkerish kinda way."

She snorted. "Whatever am I going to do with you Lily?" she asked.

I shrugged, "Put up with me. You've done it for seven years now, a few weeks more shouldn't be a problem."

She smiled sadly. "Just a month Lily. Just a month. I'm gonna miss you so much."

"I'm going to miss you too Mary." I said sincerely. She may be a pain sometimes, but she was one of my best friends and I loved her like a sister. Actually, now that I think of it, I like her much better than my own sister.

"Lily," she began, cupping my hands in her own, "Whatever you do about Potter, just do it quick. You've only got a month, and then he's gone forever. If I were you, I wouldn't let him go, a chance like this only comes once in a lifetime. Just think about it, ok?"

I nodded my head silently. It seemed like I was doing a lot of thinking these days.

It was nearly one in the morning by now. Mary and I began getting ready for bed. Fifteen minutes later we were both comfortably settled, and I switched off the lights. "Oh and Lily…" came Mary's sleepy voice.

"Yeah?" I yawned.

"Remember what they say?"

"Er- no. Remember what who says?"

"Three times the charm…" she said, before her breathing shallowed and she drifted off to sleep.

I smiled to myself in the darkness. The saying was extremely cliché, but then again, I suppose making out in a coatroom at a school dance with love songs playing in the background was cliché too.

But no matter. All I knew was that I had a lot of thinking to do, and if three times really was the charm, then so be it.

/-o0o-/

I sat in my dorm the night after the dance, my head against the wood headboard, eyes closed, just thinking.

I thought about Lily of course, not about what had happened that night but about all the times we'd shared before; both good and bad, humiliating and excruciatingly painful.

I remembered this years Valentines Day. I'd spent an entire night composing a poem for Lily, which I was so sure she'd appreciate, and ended up with a face-full of her pumpkin pie instead.

I remembered the first time I'd called Lily by her first names, not Evans like usual, but Lily. She'd opened her mouth to make some kind of angry retort and then closed it, her cheeks flushing slightly. I remembered feeling confused as to why at the time, but I'm pretty sure now that she liked hearing me say that, and it caught her off guard how normal it seemed.

I remember how long I'd stood there, mouth open in shock, that first time she'd rejected me. Sixteen minutes exactly. Not fifteen, not seventeen, sixteen. That's how long it took for the sting from her venomous words to fade, and that's exactly how long it took for me to decide that no matter what, I would get her to go out with me if it was the last thing I did.

I never regretted that decision. Not once when I lay awake in the hospital wing in agony, both from the pain of the injury, and Lily's latest rejection. Not once when she completely humiliated me in front of the entire school, just by saying that one fateful word, (no) her voice layered with varying amounts of infuriation. Not once when I found myself absently doodling little hearts with JP+LE all over my playbook, instead of preparing for an upcoming match. Not once did I regret my many failed attempts to win Lily's heart, because now, just seeing her smile at me, just feeling her warm hand in mine, just being aware of her heart quickening whenever I was near, just seeing that adorable blush rising in her cheeks, not to mention the kissing, that made it all worthwhile.

I suppose I'm being a sob romantic here. I suppose to anyone else, my pursuit of Lily just seems a great big cheesy and superfluous blur. I suppose this sounds absolutely pathetic- but Lily was simply intoxicating. If I were an addict, Lily would be the drug, if I were a ship, Lily would be the water, if I were bread, Lily would be the butter, if I were- well you get the idea. I am pathetically, hopelessly and irrevocably in love with that girl, and someday I hoped she'd feel the same.

I thought back wistfully to just last night, quite possibly the coldest night in May, but also quite possibly the warmest moment I'd shared with Lily in all my life.

_I was sitting in the stands at the quidditch pitch the night before the dance, in shorts and a T-shirt, freezing my ass off. It was midnight. Almost every light from the castle had been turned off. Nothing stirred._

_I'm not sure why I had come here. Perhaps it was just a place of comfort- like Lily had the kitchen, and I had my pitch. Well not my pitch- not really, but it still felt that way. I sighed and ran a hand absently through my hair. Lily thought that I ran a hand thought my hair to show off for the ladies, when in fact it was just a nervous gesture. And around her, I had a lot of reason to be nervous- if my many trips to the hospital wing were anything to go by. _

_She'd been acting a little strangely lately. Especially when Stacy was around. I guess Remus was right- there was nothing else left but to conclude that I had succeeded in making Lily jealous. And yet strangely enough- I felt no sense of smugness or accomplishment, only guilt. _

_Speak of the devil- there was Lily right now, walking towards me. Wait no- that couldn't be right…_

_I blinked in surprise, but when I opened my eyes again, she was still there, stepping nimbly over the bleachers, and eventually winding up on the top one, where she took a seat next to me._

_"Hey Potter." She said casually, as if finding me out at the pitch in the middle of the night was a daily occurrence._

_I blinked again, and then pinched myself to make sure this wasn't a dream. Lily tittered. Tittered- wow nice word choice there James._

_"What are you doing out here James, you're going to get pneumonia." Said Lily, sounding genuinely concerned._

_I shrugged, "Just came out here, to you know…" I searched for the right word, "Think."_

_She smiled, "Wow, I didn't know you could think!" she joked._

_"Haha. Very funny Lily." I countered weakly. "And why are you out here?"_

_Lily sighed, "Well you sort of disappeared for six hours. Obviously your friends are going to notice that, don't you think?"_

_My only response was a grunt for her to go on, though I was truly touched that she'd noticed my absence. _

_"And anyways, Mary came barging into our dorm about an hour ago saying that Sirius was getting worried that you weren't in yet and that I should go look for you here. Somehow he seemed to know where you'd be. I guess he knows you."_

_I smiled, at the mention of Sirius's tactics. Of course he would know exactly where I was from the map, but it was interesting that he should send Lily to come get me. Last time he'd had to rescue me in the middle of the night it had been because Lily had crippled me. "He would know." Was all I said though._

_Lily looked me over, her emerald eyes piercing, "So are you going to tell me what provoked this moonlit stroll to the pitch?" She asked._

_I shrugged. "Honestly, I don't really know. I guess I'm just, you know- saying goodbye. I mean with the graduation dance coming up and everything, it just sorta hit me that there's only a month left until we graduate, and then I might never see this place again…" I stopped for a moment, thinking, and then what I really wanted to say came bubbling to the surface, "I might never see you again."_

_I looked into her beautiful emerald eyes then, they shone like gems in the moonlight, but seemed somehow clouded, it was an emotion I couldn't quit place- Fear? Remorse? Regret? _

_I shook my head slightly, but when I looked back at her, she averted her eyes. "You must be freezing…" She mumbled._

_"Yeah, it's pretty cold, even for May." I said, letting my eyes roam over her silhouetted form. _At least she'd had the sense to put a sweatshirt on…_ I thought absently. However, despite the baggy sweatshirt and pillow-marks on her face, she was still just as beautiful as always, perhaps more so in this vulnerable state. I watched, almost transfixed, as a stray lock of silky red hair slipped out from behind her ear. Without even thinking, I reached up and grasped it, tucking it behind her ear with great care. Her eyes widened as I did so, but she let me. As I was about to withdraw my hand my thumb made contact with her wonderfully soft skin, and I felt as though I'd been shocked. Pleasant tingles ran down my arm, and did not stop till a few moments after I'd withdrawn my hand. _

_Lily and I both let out breaths I think none of us realized we'd been holding. In an instant her emerald eyes locked onto mine and I got a quick glimpse into those clouded depths. I'm still not sure what I saw in there, but somewhere down deep was a creature just as unsure and vulnerable as I was feeling at that moment. Perhaps she saw that same uncertainty and doubt mirrored in my own eyes, perhaps not. _

_Lily drew one slow, rattling breath, and her eyes darted nervously, "We should-we should be getting in…" she stammered, gesturing in the direction of the castle. _

_I felt a bit of disappointment bubbling in the pit of my stomach. I didn't want this moment to end, this was a side of Lily I had rarely seen, and I wanted more time to explore these newfound emotions. I cast around frantically for some reason for her to stay, "I now you like flying, wanna go for a ride- I could summon my cleansweep." _

_Lily's face teetered on the edge of indecision, "Er no- not just yet. Though I would like to ride a cleansweep, so I may take you up on that offer later. But right now you have to go sit in front of the fire for a bit and thaw out. Otherwise you're going to get hypothermia."_

_I was a little disappointed of course, but I saw her reasoning and was truly touched by her concern for me- which was by no means baseless, my fingers and toes had started to prickle uncomfortably. Figures I picked the coldest night in May to go for a walk. _

_"Kay Lily." I said, standing up as she mirrored my actions. _

_We began to exit the stands together, I was tempted to try and grasp her hand, but decided against it, mostly owing to the fact that she'd probably freak out if she felt how cold it was. "Thanks for coming out here Lily. Seriously. I know how much you hate breaking the rules." I said sincerely. _

_I think I heard her muttering something that sounded suspiciously like _That ship has sailed_, but I'm not entirely sure. All the same she said, "You're welcome James. I'm sure you'd have done the same for me."_

_It was perfectly true. I knew I would have done the same, but that didn't make the gesture any less sincere as I'd probably jump through rings of fire with a bucket of kerosene for that girl. Merlin, I had it bad._

I grinned ruefully from my position on the bed. _Someday, _I mused, _Someday I'd get Lily to come fly with me. _I'd no doubt that if we ever got the chance to lift off, we'd soar to remarkable heights, and maybe, just maybe, tease the sky's limits, and soar amongst the stars.

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A/N: Yeah I know, another cheesy chap. What can I say, I'm a fluff adict. Sorry if the flashback part was a little confusing, I like to try and put some James and Lily interactions in every chap, and this was the only way I could think of doing it here.


	24. Plan X

_A/N: Wow guys, I'm so sorry it's been so long since the last update. Real life has this pesky way of distracting me. But thanks so much to everyone who's reviewed so far and stuck with this story for this long. Just a few chapters left to go..._

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Plan X: Lists and Questions

2 o'clock am. 3 o'clock. 4 o'clock. I watched my clock tick away steadily, despairing at each loss of another hour I could have spent asleep.

5 o'clock, 6 o'clock… I think I might have dosed off for a bit after that, but I'm not entirely sure. All I know is the next time I checked my watch, it read 7:17. Normally, I would have rolled over and tried to get some more sleep, but somehow I didn't think that would work this time.

What, you might ask, was the reason for my insomnia? Well there's a very simple answer to that question: Potter. That boy was completely and utterly perplexing. One minute I was ready to hex him into oblivion, the next, I wanted to snog him senseless. He was both intriguing and infuriating. Desirable and despicable. Alluring and maddening. He was James Potter. All signs pointed to me despising James Potter, but somehow, that wasn't quite the case anymore. I had a decision to make, and if I wanted to sleep some time in the near future, I knew I'd have to make that decision soon.

I sat there in my bed for a few minutes, trying to think rationally, but somehow my mind kept straying to that last kiss in the coatroom. As pleasant as that was to think about, I knew I had to move on to something a little bit more constructive. Sighing, I flicked my wand and summoned a stray bit of parchment and quill from under my bed. I was a very organized person, who's mind worked best in an organized setting. I would write a list.

Biting my lip, I scrawled a title across the front of the page: _Pros and Cons of Potter,_ and set to work. Half an hour later, after much pondering and a lot of scratching out, I had my short list. I held it up towards the dull light streaming in from the window to read over once more.

_**Things I like about James:**_

_1) His hair. (As much as I tried to deny it, I loved his hair. It looked incredibly sexy when he ran his hand through it and messed it up.) _

_2) His determination. (I mean c'mon, you had to hand it to him… Even after all those failed attempts and the occasional trips to the hospital wing, he still got right back up and asked me out tirelessly.)_

_3) His sense of humor. (Although occasionally rather rude, he never ceased to amuse me. I suppose that could only be a good thing.) _

_4) His Gryffindor pride. (Anyone who supported Gryffindor was ok in my book.)_

_5) He was a good kisser. (I couldn't deny it, our last kiss at the dance had been the best in my life.)_

_6) His smile. (Every time I saw him smile at me, my stomach did this odd sort of flip-flop that was not at all unpleasant. I loved his lopsided, kid-in-the-candy-store smile, it made me practically glow with happiness, because I knew it is reserved just for me.)_

_**Things I hate about James:**_

_1) His arrogance. (Or cockiness, whatever you want to call it. He had way too much confidence and it bugged me.)_

_2) His reputation. (He's never had a serious relationship in his life. I doubt he's ever had a girlfriend that lasted more than a week.)_

_3) His disregard for the rules. (Though sometimes rather intriguing, rules were important to me, and breaking them was very disrespectful in my opinion.)_

_4) His lack of maturity. (He was still a kid at heart. Him and his friends, with the exception of Remus, all were.)_

_5) His fetish with nicknames. (It was fine that he and his friends had their own names, but calling me pet names like Lilykins and Lily flower was derogatory. I didn't like it…well maybe just a little bit…)_

_6) His singing voice. (Absolutely horrendous. Enough said.)_

I looked over my list despairingly. It was a tie. Just my luck. I racked my brain, trying to think of something else to put down. But they were trivial little details… Except, well maybe there was one: _He loves me_, said a small voice in the back of my mind. I'm not sure why that even occurred to me, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to matter. _He loves me. _That could only be a good thing. I put that under the pros. The score was now 7-6. Obviously I wasn't going to base my entire decision on just one list, but this would help. I folded up the parchment with a small tap of my wand, put it in my pocket for safekeeping and headed out.

/-o0o-/

It was Sunday morning and I was heading down to breakfast before eight. Which for me was absolutely unheard of.

I looked around. There were probably only about twenty or so people in the hall in total. Everyone else was taking advantage of the weekend and sleeping in. Normally I would be doing the same, but I hadn't honestly gotten a wink of sleep last night, so I'd just decided to give up and come down to breakfast.

I wasn't really surprised by the sparseness of students. What I was, however, surprised at was the fact that Lily was sitting down at the Gryffindor table, all alone, absently eating oatmeal and poking at a stack of bacon while analyzing a small sheet of parchment. She wasn't much of a morning person herself.

"Morning." I called, taking a seat opposite her.

She looked up at me absently, "Morning James…" she greeted vaguely.

I waited until her attention returned to the paper before quickly snatching a piece of her bacon and shoving it into my mouth. I figured she wouldn't notice, but apparently she had like ultra sensory skills or something, because barely a second after I'd managed to swallow she said without looking up, "You stole my bacon."

I smirked, "What gave it away?"

I saw her roll her eyes over the parchment, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it was the sight of your none-to-graceful hand scrabbling around in my peripheral vision, or maybe it was the sound of your not-so-quiet lips smacking while you all but inhaled _my _breakfast!"

I snorted, "Oh, but Lily you love my lips!"

She looked up as I made a kissy-face and giggled. "Not when they're devouring my breakfast, I don't!" She exclaimed, reaching up and smacking my face playfully.

I recoiled theatrically, "You wound me Lily. For that, I think I deserve another piece."

I reached towards her plate, but she slapped my hand away, "Not on you're life, James Potter!"

For some reason, I found her use of my full name rather endearing. "You've left me no choice, Lily Evans, I'll have to eat this piece of paper instead!"

I grabbed her parchment and held it up to my face for closer inspection. Her face instantly flushed as I read the title: _James Potter: Pros and cons…_

I had just enough time to quickly scan the small list before she snatched it from my grasp. "That's private!" She hissed through clenched teeth, her face now resembling that of a tomato.

Instinctively, I put my hands up in a gesture of innocence at the livid look on her face. "Sorry Lily, I didn't mean…"

"Forget it Potter." She cut across harshly.

She crumpled the list and put it in her pocket, now devoting her full attention to her rapidly cooling oatmeal. A rather awkward minute of silence ensued. And then another, and another. Finally I could stand it no longer. "I somehow fail to see how my singing voice factors into the equation," I said, perhaps tactlessly, "I'd like to see you do better."

Lily smirked, "I could show you up easily Potter. My voice isn't nearly as hideous as yours." She teased, apparently having decided to forgive me.

I decided to push my luck a bit. "And you forgot to add a few things." I said, my voice containing an unspoken challenge.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

"My charismatic appeal, my flawless good looks, my incomparable athletic ability-"

"-Your modesty." She interjected sarcastically.

I ignored her and plowed on, "My unwavering loyalty, my undying love, my selfless generosity-"

"Generosity, hmmm…" Teased Lily, "That's a new one."

I tried my best to look indignant, "Well I am, remember what I did for your birthday?"

Lily smiled, "You did nothing for my birthday. I remember, you completely traumatized me later in the week, but I didn't even speak to you the day of."

"Yeah well, I still spent a fortune on those decorations…" I grumbled.

Lily laughed lightly. "What's so funny?" I asked.

Her smile grew slightly, and I saw a hint of a blush coloring her cheeks, "Nothing. You're er- kinda cute when you pout like that."

I tried to mimic my earlier expression, and she laughed. That sweet melodious sound, like chimes singing in the wind, or the gentle _whoosh_ of a quaffle soaring through the air. Or at least that's how it sounded to me. "Well there's another one to add to you're list: 'kinda cute'" I said.

She shrugged, "So let me get this straight, according to you, you are: Charismatic, good looking, athletic, loyal, irrevocably in love, generous, and 'kinda cute'?"

I nodded jovially. "You are in serious need of an ego deflation, you know that?" said Lily.

"I prefer to think I'm confident." I said, shooting Lily a lopsided grin.

"Well you're not self-conscious, that's for sure…" trailed Lily musingly.

There followed another moment of slightly uncomfortable silence. I broke the tension the only way I knew how: I stole another piece of bacon.

Lily glared at me as I went to take a piece, but otherwise said nothing. After I finished chewing, she spoke up, "Why do you like to torment me so much?" she asked, eyeing her almost empty plate.

"Because it's fun." I answered easily.

"You take pleasure in provoking me?" she asked skeptically.

"You bet."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Can I ask just one more question?"

I smiled, "Ask away babe!" I replied.

She grimaced at the word 'babe' but made no further comment. I made a mental note not to try that one again.

Lily bit her lip, "Why me?" she asked.

Her question caught me off guard, "Why you what?" I asked.

She shrugged again, "Why is it me you want? I mean, you're James Potter. Quidditch star. Marauder extraordinaire. You could have any girl, but you wanted the one who kept turning you down and breaking you're bones."

I quickly jumped on the chance for flattery. Usually Lily didn't want my compliments, "Well, why wouldn't I want you Lily? You're smart, you're funny, you're hot, you're independent, you're not afraid to give someone a piece of you're mind, you're strong, in both literal and figurative senses, you're-"

She cut me off, "Ok. I get it. You're trying to flatter me. That's not what I wanted. I just want a straight answer. If you had to say just one thing, what would it be?"

I gulped as Lily watched me intently, waiting for my answer. It took me much longer to formulate just this one, simple response, than it did for my first. I couldn't choose just one thing about her, that's like shoving a whole bag of Berttie Botts Every Flavor Beans under Wormtails pudgy nose and telling him to take just one. Finally though, since obviously I had to say something, I settled for a response. "Because you're you." I said simply.

Lily sighed in frustration, "What kind of an answer is that?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Sorry. But I can't just sum up all the reasons I love you into one sentence. I'd need to write a novel to do that. You're a totally unique and awesome person, and I just genuinely enjoy spending time with you. If I'm with you, and you're happy, that's all I need. Then I'm happy."

She smiled, "Get that off a Hallmark card, James?"

This time it was my turn to roll my eyes, "Why do you always assume that I have no creativity? Who do you think comes up with all our pranks?"

She snorted, "Oh, well sorry if I don't find you guys shoving each others heads down toilets particularly romantic. But thanks for answering my question all the same. It helps."

I smirked facetiously, "Glad I could be of service." I raised my hand and doffed an imaginary cap.

She snorted, "Same old Potter…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"What's what supposed to mean?"

"Same old Potter? What's that?"

"What do you think it means?" Asked Lily, smirking determinedly.

"Why are you answering my questions with questions?"

"Why shouldn't I ask you the exact same thing?" She stated, stubborn as ever.

"Why not stop asking questions?"

"Why not you?"

"Ugh… Why do you have to be so stubborn?" I grumbled.

She grinned like a Cheshire cat, "Why don't you just give up already?"

"When did this become a competition?" I asked exasperatedly.

"What makes you so sure?"

"So sure of what?" I asked warily.

"What's going on here guys?" I looked up to see Mary hovering at Lily's shoulder.

"What do you think?" I answered with a question. Man, I was getting good.

Mary cocked her head to one side and examined us. I looked back at Lily and suddenly realized that I was leaning forward against the table, and she was doing the same on her end. Throughout our previous conversation, we had been steadily sliding closer to each other without even realizing it. Her face was very, very close. I looked into her eyes and blinked, quickly jerking away, hoping not to startle her. No such luck. She jerked away from me as well, just as Mary began her speculation, "Well, I'd have to say, from where I'm standing it looks like you two were engaged in some kind of extended verbal foreplay. But I didn't see the whole thing, so you might want to ask the entire table over there that was eavesdropping on your conversation."

She gestured to the Hufflepuff table, who all began coughing loudly and quickly looking away.

Lily paled while I openly gawked at Mary, who was headed down the table towards the pancakes, "Geesh Lily, you have weird friends." I said.

Lily's pallor quickly brightened as she smiled victoriously, "Ha, you lose!" she exclaimed.

I opened and closed my mouth, too bewildered to speak, "Who said this was a contest?" I finally spluttered.

Lily shrugged. "Nobody, but I still win."

A moment later, Lily had polished off the rest of her oatmeal, and was standing up to leave the hall. "Here, you can finish the rest of my bacon," she said, sliding her plate across the table to me.

I quickly reached out and grabbed her hand, not finished with her quite yet. "Here Lily, take this." I shoved a small piece of black leather into her outstretched palm.

She looked it over, confused for a moment, and then sudden realization struck. "Is this my shoe strap? How'd you get it?"

"It fell off your shoe at the dance and I found it. Just thought you might want it back."

She smiled at me, "Weird. I didn't even know I'd lost it. Anyways, I've gotta go study. See you later James."

She seemed to consider for a moment, before leaning over the table slightly, and giving me a quick peck on the cheek. Blushing prettily, she spared me one last smile before turning around and striding away.

I sat there for a moment after she left, probably looking like a complete retard as I gingerly touched the spot on my cheek were her lips had rested just moments before. A maniacal smile lit up my face as I realized that this was the first time she'd ever shown any sign of affection towards me in public. She was coming around. Slowly but surly, she was coming around towards me.

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_A/N: I know this wasn't the most exciting chapter thus far, but trust me, the next chap will be much better. Reviews are always appreciated. Adios! _


	25. Plan Y

_A/N: Yes, I know it's been a week since my last update. I don't really have a good excuse this time. A couple things did come up, but what it comes down to is that I'm just lazy. I'm sorry guys. Really I am. Anyways, I couldn't resist throwing a little bit more drama into the plot, even though this story is almost finished. Hopefully this chapter isn't too wierd for you..._

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Plan Y: Not Part Of The Plan

I was walking away from the unicorn pasture after Care of Magical creatures, when I suddenly stopped in my tracks and gulped. There, sitting on the fence with her legs crossed, and her quill behind her ear, was none other than Rita Skeeter.

I thought about yelling at her. Something along the lines of: _What the hell are you doing here you filthy old cow?! _But I didn't want to get into any more trouble with her than I was already in, so instead I just glared at her.

She met my gaze, and stared back evenly, "Lily Evans. Am I mistaken?" She asked in her mock-sweet voice.

I nodded curtly. She smiled, an evil, painfully malicious smile. "Ah Good. Well then," She folded her hands on her lap, "There's a few things I think you should know. Shall we get down to business?"

I didn't say anything, I simply continued glaring at her with as much intensity as I could muster. I wished looks could kill, because if that were so, I was sure Rita would have dropped dead five minutes ago.

"It's about your _boyfriend_." She stressed the last word teasingly and looked over my face to see my reaction.

I was careful to keep my face blank as I told her quite calmly, "He isn't my boyfriend."

Her smile deepened, "Oh what a shame. Probably all for the best though. I wouldn't want to go out with someone like that. I'd have dumped his sorry ass _months_ ago."

I continued glaring at her, fuming silently. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that her words angered me. _No one was allowed to speak about James like that._ That was my job.

She let her words sink in for a moment, before continuing in a simpering voice, "Oh dear, you don't know do you?"

I knew what she wanted me to say, but I kept my mouth locked shut.

She gave me a look that was clearly meant to look sympathetic. I kept my jaw locked in a tight line and my expression neutral, but really, my blood had almost reached boiling point. I wanted to hex her into oblivion. First she insulted my mom, now James. What next?

"Oh dear oh dear oh dear…. Where to begin?"

She fidgeted slightly, then crossed and uncrossed her legs. I got the feeling she was biding her time for the dramatic affect of whatever gloating news she had in store for me, and that only angered me further.

Finally, I could take it no longer. Although I knew I was playing right into Rita's hand I snarled, "You came here to tell me something. Why don't you just say it, gloat, and get the hell out of here!"

"Patience child," She simpered maliciously, "Good things come to those who wait, though in your case I suppose that isn't true."

"I don't suppose you'd like me to hex you right back to whatever hell-hole you crawled out of." I sneered, because I'd finally been pushed over the edge.

Her sinister smile lengthened, "Watch your mouth child, or I'll be forced to report you to your headmaster. Now you wouldn't want that, would you?"

She hopped off the railing and walked over towards me. I probably should have left then, but I didn't want her to think I was scared of her, so I stood my ground.

When she got close to me she reached out a spindly hand with blood-red fingernails and pinched my cheek like a grandmother might do, only much harder. I shot her my best death glare, but it didn't seem to affect her in the slightest.

"Poor Lily… I'm afraid what I have to say to you will wipe that silly sneer off your face in a heartbeat. Anyways no more dilly-dallying. Time to get down to business." She took a deep, theatrical breath and plunged on, "James is cheating on you with a certain blonde witch called Stacy."

I could have laughed. _This was her huge gloating news? _"Yeah, he went to the dance with her. So what? I already knew that." I stated triumphantly.

Her smile didn't waver however, on the contrary it seemed to grow, if that was even possible. "Oh but you don't know everything it seems."

I smirked, "Oh yeah." I challenged.

"Oh, well did you perchance know, that I walked in on them at about one in the morning going at it in a broom closet on the first floor."

My smirk wavered, but only for a second. Of course she was lying. "You're a horrible liar Skeeter." I sneered.

She looked me over closely, as a doctor might, or perhaps a stern teacher, "Perhaps it was coatroom…" she trailed off musingly.

I couldn't help my smile from flickering for a second, a movement I was sure she caught. "Ahhh…now I remember!" She said triumphantly, "I was going to get my coat, and I opened the door to see the two of them locked in close embrace. Snogging, I guess you young ones would call it. At any rate it looked like he was sucking her face off. They didn't seem to notice me, so I went to close the door, but not before I heard James say something I thought you might find quite interesting…"

"Oh yeah, and what was that?" I asked mockingly.

"He said, and I quote: 'I love you Stacy. I may have said that to two women today, but you're the only one for whom I meant it.'"

I rolled my eyes at her, although her words had brought just the smallest tinge of doubt to my mind. _How could she possibly guess what Potter had said to me? She wasn't in the coatroom then, no one was._

She seemed to sense my skepticism, "Oh but Lily, that's not the half of it. See, he had this small black piece of leather, a shoe strap by the looks of it… and he took it out of his pocket, spat on it, and threw it down on the floor."

I was all ready to throw a malicious insult her way, but when she said shoe strap, my voice caught in my throat. _No. How could she know I lost my shoe strap? It's not possible. She wasn't in the coatroom with us. No one was and I would have noticed if someone came in. I'm sure of it._

I was a rational person, however I didn't want to rationalize this situation, for fear she may actually be telling the truth, That would be more horrible than I could imagine. So instead I said the most intelligent thing I could think of, in the hope of catching her out, "So uhhh why were you still at the dance at one in the morning? It ended at twelve." I asked, trying to sound as skeptical as possible.

"Oh well I was writing my story of course. I must strike while my muse is still with me. I'd only just finished at one, and I went to get my coat so I could get out of the grounds and apparate home."

I silently cursed her explanation. It sounded relatively reasonable actually. But I wasn't going to believe her. I wouldn't believe her. She was an accomplished witch, surely she had magical means of eavesdropping that had allowed her to spy on us. She just wanted to get back at me for the pocketbook, but I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing that her words had sparked even the tiniest ripple of doubt. "I don't believe you Rita. You may know how to lie on paper, but you can't lie for shit in front of someone's face." I spat, before turning my on my heel to leave.

However, she snatched my arm again before I'd had the chance to walk two steps. I breathed in slowly to calm myself enough that I wouldn't be tempted to draw my wand and turned back around to face her. "Yes? What do you want _now_?"

"Would you believe me if I used veritaserum?" She asked, drawing a small silver vial from her pocket.

My breath caught. _How did she get that? _It was veritaserum alright, I was too good a potion maker not to recognize the telltale sheen of bubbles on the surface and the numbing fumes issuing from just the small dose. I squinted closer for a better look. There was a small, silver symbol etched into the glass. It looked like a torch, or maybe it was a sun…

As my eyes locked on the symbol, my body jerked as though an electric shock had passed through me. My head knocked the vial right out of Rita's hands, and fell to the ground with a light _thud!_

The vial didn't break on the mossy ground, but the potion spilled out and seeped into the ground. There would be no recovering it. And yet strangely, I didn't mind. I didn't need the potions assurance anymore. Somehow, I just _knew _that Rita was right. She'd been right all along, I'd just been too thick to realize it.

I looked up to see Rita looking at me expectantly. I smiled up at her; suddenly all anger dissipating. "Thank you for telling me the truth Rita." I said sincerely, turning around for the last time, to go and hex Potter.

/-o0o-/

It was the calm before the storm. The gang and I were hanging by the common room fire, plotting our last escapade before graduation. I had claimed one of the better armchairs by the fire, and so had Remus and Sirius, but poor Peter was reduced to sitting on the floor, craning his pudgy little neck to look at us as we spoke in hushed whispers. We were debating about whether or not to attempt to break into Zonko's. Sirius and I were gung-ho of course, but Remus, always the voice of reason, insisted that it was too risky.

"What about that run in with Aberforth's goat last month," he insisted, "You have to admit, that was a close call, and he lives right down the street…"

He trailed off, and then Sirius spoke up, "So you eat the goat, it's not like anyone's going to miss that pesky little bugger."

I snorted, "Still angry about the cloak, Padfoot?" I teased.

"I'll have you know that was the best bloody cloak I ever owned! And that freakin little monster had no right to bite a chunk out of it!"

I snorted, "You're a bloody pansy, you know that?"

He glared, "Prat!"

"Moron!" I retorted jokingly.

"Dillhole!"

"Pighead!"

"Bastard!"

"Jackass!"

"Uh…. You guys…" Came Peter's shaky voice.

We both looked down to see him pointing a shaking finger towards the portrait hole, white as a ghost. I followed his train of sight in time to see the door flung against the wall violently, with a resounding _thud, _as Hurricane Lily entered the room.

I inwardly shuddered as I watched her quickly scan the room, and her wild eyes came to rest on me. She sent me one of her full on death glares- causing every nerve in my body to taut, every cell to cry out in alarm. As our eyes locked, I tried to look into those wild emerald orbs, but they were clouded by that now familiar, fiery red-head passion and anger, and this time, the anger won out, but didn't recede by any means. I swear, for the briefest instant, I saw the lights flicker around her, and the smoldering fire behind me spark to new life. But that may have just been a reflection of the unbelievable rage evident in those terrifying emerald depths. And that rage, that terrible, smoldering hate that was perfectly capable of sparking an immanent titanic disaster, that rage was directed at none other, but me.

She took a step towards me, as I staggered out of my chair to face her. I took in her bedraggled appearance wearily. Her mud splattered robe, her flyaway hair, her livid face, her labored breathing. It looked as if she'd run all the way here from somewhere outside.

She was mad at me obviously. Any idiot or anxious Gryffindor onlooker could see that. I hadn't the slightest clue why though. As far as I could remember, I had done no wrong by her in weeks. "What did I do?" I asked, as soon as my throat had moistened enough to speak.

"What did you do? What did you do?!" She yelled, loud enough to reach the moon, "You lied to me, that's what!"

_Lied?_ My mind scrambled frantically trying to recall an instance when this had happened. Within seconds, I realized what she was on about, or so I thought. "Is this about the Animagus, because Lily I swear, I couldn't tell you!" I sputtered, perhaps foolishly.

"Animagus? So you have more secrets! No, this is about Stacy you moronic bastard!"

"Stacy?" I asked blankly.

"You cheated on me Potter! You cheated and lied! You made me think that you actually cared! You made me hope that you were something more! But when it really comes down to it, you're not! You're not worth a second of the time I spent with you! You're not worth a fraction of the grief you've given me! I should have known before, you're nothing but a womanizing rat bastard! And you know what? I don't care anymore. You can have you're frikin whore! Go run off with that ditsy blonde slut for all I care! She deserves you!"

I tried to open my mouth to speak, to tell her that her wild accusations were completely false, to ask her what had led her to believe such preposterous lies, but I was almost too bewildered to form a coherent sentence. Panicked, I stuttered out the first thing that came to mind, "Lily I… I'm-"

"You're what, you're sorry!" She cried, "Well I've got news for you Potter- it's too late for that. The damage is done, and you know what, I'm glad! At least now I know the truth! And to think, I was almost about to tell you I wanted to be with you! Well trust me, I'll never make that mistake again!"

I staggered back a bit at the slap in the face that was her cruel and slightly ironic words, and at the ferocious glint in her eyes. Her hand was buried in her cloak, were I was quite certain it was gripping her wand so hard her knuckles had gone white. When Lily was livid like this, she was dangerous. I must try to reason with her in the most cautious manner possible. Swallowing a lump in my throat, and trying to still the knot of fear and anguish in my stomach, I chocked out another weak protest, "Lily, I didn't. I swear, I don't know what you're talking about. Whatever it is, it's not true. None of it's true!" The urgency was evident in my voice. I had to make her hear me before she decided to do something rash.

To late apparently. In one smooth motion, her wand was drawn, and pointed directly at my throat.

My eyes widened as her wand let of a round of angry red sparks, diffusing themselves in Lily's wild and matted hair. "Skee- my source didn't lie. You're the liar. I see that clearly now Potter. I'm done playing games with you. We're thru!" She swiped her wand in a fierce arc to empathize her point.

I couldn't help it as my eyes widened and my jaw slackened in shock. I hadn't a clue what had gotten into her head, all I knew was that I was losing her, despite my best efforts all year, and I would not let that happen. Sure, Lily Evans wasn't an object, wasn't a prize but a person, however at that moment it didn't matter to me. I was James Potter. And I refused to lose the girl I loved.

I trudged over to her, all thoughts of my own safety forgotten, and placed a hand on her arm, "Lily I-" I started, before she slapped my hand a away, angry tears prickling at her eyelids.

"LET GO OF ME!" She bellowed, redirecting her wand so that it hovered bellow my temple.

Stupidly, I desperately attempted to grab her arm again, but she pulled away with a fierce, "FUCK OFF POTTER!"

Her cussing left me at a loss of words, and she used that as an opportunity to mumble a hasty, "Flippendo!"

The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air, looking into anxious onlookers startled faces and feeling as if I might puke. I hit the ground with a loud _THUD! _and felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, as it collided forcefully with my dormitory staircase. The last thing I saw was Lily's tearstained, but enraged face, looking daggers straight at me, before the darkness engulfed me, and I passed out.

/-o0o-/

When I came to, it was late at night, and I was lying on my back on my four poster bed. My head throbbed, and the whole of my body ached, but what hurt most was the searing pain that seemed to burn a hole through my heart, leaving me feeling completely and utterly desolate and alone.

Lily and I were through. I knew that inexplicably now. I had no idea what demon had possessed her to say those horrible things, and to spout those terrible accusations, but I did know enough to realize that she was lost to me, and this time I feared it was for good.

After all we'd been through, after all I'd done for her, after all those injuries I'd sustained, it was finally over. I guess we just were never meant to be.

I bit my lip as tears threatened to fall. _James Potter did not cry._ Especially not over some girl. But the thing was, Lily wasn't just some girl. She wasn't just another crush. I didn't quite know what she was, but I was sure that she was so much more.

_Was. _Past tense. She wasn't anything anymore. Just another disappointment. Just another lost opportunity. Just another maybe in a field of infinite doubts and regrets.

Frustrated, I sat up quickly, blinking dazedly as all the blood rushed from my face and small dots of light danced across my vision. I bit my lip harder as my eyes began to well up, so hard a trickle of blood began to spew out into my mouth, tasting metallic, and not at all desirable. Angrily, I cupped my hand into a fist, and threw it back towards the wall with as much force as my pent up rage, frustration, and deep, deep remorse would allow.

The result was a rather large dent, a few broken knuckles, a stream of blood trickling down the wall, staining my sheets red to match the curtains, and one lone tear that somehow slipped out through my physical pain and remorse. It trickled down the side of my face and landed in the pool of my blood, diffusing instantly, as if it had never been. If only my pain could leave me so easily.

The rest of the week was the longest of my life. I tried to speak to Lily on a few occasions, but eventually gave up when it became clear she would not listen. She wouldn't even make eye contact with me. My favorite color in the world, the color of her eyes, was now shrouded and unreachable.

We did end up going out on the full moon. Sirius and I even dressed Aberforth's goat up in a pair of his old pajama's, but I did so only half-heartedly. The world seemed a much less cheery place without Lily's infectious smile and dazzling emerald eyes to light it up.

The week wore on and on, seeming to last forever, but at the same time it took no time at all. Time didn't really matter to me. Nothing really mattered to me anymore. Nothing but Lily. As much as I tried to force myself to hate her, I couldn't. Sure, I was angry, but I still loved her, and that was a hard emotion to erase. It would have been easier to hate, I could deal with that, and it would go away over time, but as it was, the pain inside me would not recede, would not go away any more than the dent in the wall. It would take magic to fix that, and though I was a wizard, I didn't have the heart.

/-o0o-/

'You never really know what you have till it's gone.' That was a phrase I'd never really understood, until now, when it seemed clear as day.

I'd always seen Potter as just a constant annoyance. But the thing was, he was a constant. As in always there. And now that he wasn't dogging my every step, bombarding me with a constant stream of humiliation and pathetic pick-up lines, I found I rather missed him. No, I didn't just miss him, I craved him. It was like a void had opened up somewhere in my heart, and a crucial piece that I'd never really acknowledged was missing. And slowly, ever so slowly, that missing piece was killing me.

I had to keep reminding myself about the horrible thing that Potter did, the terrible way that he betrayed me, to keep myself from running to him and begging him to take me back. As it was, it was an effort just to make it through the day. I couldn't talk to him, couldn't even look him in the eye, for fear of weakening my resolve.

And the sad thing was, although I was furious at him, I didn't hate him. I'd never really hated him, and now when I had sufficient reason to, I found I was incapable of it. I was just filled with this hollow remorse, this empty numbness and sorrow. It would have been easier to hate him. I could get over that. But I couldn't hate that wretched boy, and I knew it would take awhile, if ever, to get over him.

/-o0o-/

The last person I'd expect to come up to me, approached me today in the library. Yeah… you guessed it. Stacy.

I was sitting at one of the larger tables, studying for NEWTS, minding my own business when she came over and plopped herself down besides me, flicking her long blonde hair back lazily as she took a seat.

"What do you want?" I asked coldly.

"To talk." Se said simply.

I glared at her. "I'm kind of busy right now, in case you haven't noticed." I gestured to my elaborate setup of study charts and textbooks, sprawled out along two large tables.

She spared my study tools a quick glance before she turned her attention back to me. "Too bad. I happen to know that you've been studying for five hours straight now, so I'm sure you can spare five minutes to hear me out."

"Save your breath. I don't care what you have to say." I snapped, returning my attention to my transfiguration book.

"Fine, then I'll just sit here till you're ready to listen to me." She replied airily, leaning back in her chair and clasping her hands behind her head.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Get comfortable, because it's going to be awhile."

We didn't speak again for about fifteen minutes. I was amazed that she actually stayed that long. Surely if she just wanted to gloat, she'd have lost patience and blabbed by now? All the same, her presence was beginning to annoy me. It is very difficult to study with someone staring at you like you've grown an extra head.

I didn't think she could possibly irk me more than she was now, but unfortunately, I was wrong. "This chart is wrong," She said breezily, gesturing to a chart on my right, "Chemical substances isn't the first of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elementary Transfiguration, food is."

I glared at her and snatched up my list to check. Sure enough, she was right. I'd made a mistake and she'd caught me out. _I guess she isn't as dumb as I presumed her to be_, I thought. Incidentally, this thought did nothing to lighten my mood.

I sighed, "Well if you're so good at Transfiguration then, why don't you go study and quit bugging me?" I asked in frustration.

Stacy smirked in a self-satisfied way, much like that smirk of Potter's that I loathed so much. "I wasn't aware that I was annoying you Lily. I'm only watching is all." She retorted icily, "But if you want me to leave, all you have to do is hear me out. Five minutes is all I ask, then I'll be gone and you'll never have to speak to me again."

I rolled my eyes, "Fine then. Five minutes. You're on the clock."

Stacy cleared her throat and shifted in her seat. It looked like she was preparing to make a speech or launch a presentation. I sighed and glanced at my watch as she began, "I'm going to be frank with you Lily; I know you don't like me. Ditsy blonde slut isn't exactly a term used to describe a friend." I snorted, but she plowed on as if she hadn't heard, "And honestly, from what I've seen of you, I don't like you either. You're self-absorbed, absolutely conceited, an insufferable know it all, and to top that all off, a complete idiot."

I rolled my eyes at her, hoping her little rant of insults would end soon. She took a deep breath and kept going, "And for some reason, I'm not at all sure why, Potter loves you."

I tried to retort at that one. To tell her that pledging your love to a girl, and then turning around and cheating on them did not equal love, did not even equal someone capable of love, but she raised her wand threateningly, and my breath caught at the ferocious look in her eyes. I'd never been on the receiving end of a death glare until then, and only now did I understand the full extent of their power. "Transfiguration is only one of my good subjects. I can, and will hex you straight to hell and back if you try to interrupt me Lily." She sneered, injecting malice into each word, making me completely believe her fearful threats. Needless to say, I shut up.

She smirked and kept going, her wand still pointed at my face, "I'm sure it doesn't surprise you that I heard all about that little incident in the Gryffindor Common room a few weeks back. And I can assure you, I did no such thing. I have too much respect for myself to kiss someone who is so obviously head over heels in love for another. And especially a Gryffindor." She made a disgusted face, but kept speaking, "I've never seen him in a romantic sense before. He's always been just a fierce competitor and a close acquaintance. Maybe even a friend."

"Which is why I have to convince you that I'm the one telling you the truth, not Skeeter." I almost asked her how she knew it was Rita Skeeter who'd given me the tip off, but thought better of it, mostly owing to the fact that her wand was still pointed directly at my face.

"I want to make it perfectly clear, I'm doing this for Potter, not you. And yes Lily, I know about Skeeter. Potter told me at the dance about the run in you had with her in Hogesmede, and so I easily put two and two together and figured out what was up. She told you something Lily, and it was a lie."

I bit my lip. Sure, I'd like to believe Stacy was the truthful one, but so far she'd given me nothing to go by but her word, which wasn't exactly solid evidence. "Anyways, I did some snooping around of my own and found this." Here she held up a small news clipping for me to see, with a postage stamp sized picture of a rather distressed looking Rita Skeeter.

"It says here that about a week ago, Skeeter was fined 50 gallions for being found with an illicit truth vial in her possession. Not to mention her quick quotes quill tried to stab the ministry official who wrote her up…"

I couldn't help but snort at that, serves her right. However, I failed to see how this related to anything Stacy was trying to tell me. That Rita was a foul, evil person? I already knew that.

She continued after giving me a chance to quickly scan the article, oblivious to my obvious confusion, "A truth vial, you may or may not know, is a highly powerful magical artifact that can make someone believe just about anything if they feel even the tiniest bit of doubt about their original belief or theory. It was originally manufactured by ancient Egyptian wizards, who used it to convince ancient embalmers that the brain was a useless organ which must be extracted from the body prior to burial. What these wizards actually wanted was to use the brains for potion making. I'm sure you know that the cerebellum of a primate's brain is often used in dark potion brewing. Later, the rest of Europe adopted the vial to convince common citizens who'd accidentally witnessed magic that wizardry didn't exist, which was all fine and good until the vials started being distributed more rapidly and without much care, eventually ending up in the hands of dark wizards who could use them to convince entire communities to fight amongst themselves, purely for that wizard's entertainment. Eventually there was an order issued to destroy all existing vials, because they were found to be too similar to the imperious curse and much too dangerous. Most of them were destroyed of course, but obviously a few survived on the black market, because Rita somehow managed to get her hands on one. How she managed to wriggle out of that one without going to Azkaban, who knows?"

"Are you suggesting that Rita used one of those on me?" I asked, not able to stay silent a moment longer.

Stacy seemed to consider me for a moment, "Yes. Even though I don't think you're as smart as you seem to think you are, you're not a complete idiot. You would never have believed Skeeter if she didn't use some kind of witchcraft on you. Think back Lily, do you remember her asking you to look closely at something? Did you see a small silver vial with a sunrise symbol etched into it?"

I thought back, willing my mind to think past the anger that had clouded my mind directly preceding my talk with Rita. I remember she'd made a few valid points, I also remember not believing her at first, despite all that, and then… and then… Something about veritaserum… Then I'd lent forward to get a good look, I'd gazed at it, gazed at the small silver vial- _Wait, vial?_ And then it was like something in the back of my mind just clicked. Suddenly it all fit together so perfectly. This was her revenge. She'd made me believe her just to ruin my life, but it was a lie, it was all a lie. She'd been able to sew just the tiniest bit of doubt into my mind, and then that was all she needed. It was all so perfect, so masterful, how did I fall prey to such a simple yet ingenious plan?

Stacy watched me silently, as realization slowly dawned on my face. "Well, I see my work here is done." Said Stacy, about a minute later, smirking that self satisfied smirk yet again, "I'll just leave you to it then."

She stood up in one swooping, graceful motion and turned around to face me once more, "Oh and Lily," She said, "I very wise person once said that anyone can make a mistake and screw up, but it takes a very strong person to admit they were wrong and do something to fix it."

"Oh yeah, who said that?" I asked, before she could turn her back on me.

"I did." She said, before turning her back on me, and striding away.

I watched her leave the library, and then put my head in my hands the moment I was sure she was too far away to notice. Stacy was absolutely right. I was an idiot, and now I was completely screwed.

* * *

_A/N: Wow, what a beast of a chapter! If you stuck it out this long, I congradulate you! Sorry about the emo-ish chap. Next one will be fluffy and cute, promise:)_


	26. Plan Z

_A/N: Hey guys! I'm back again with what looks to be the last chap. Boo:( So, without further adu, I give you Plan Z!_

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* * *

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Plan Z: The End

I was standing by the black lake, using my wand to summon flat stones and then attempting to skip them across the surface. It was becoming increasingly difficult. Every time I happened to glance down at the bank where Lily saved my life, I'd feel a constricting feeling somewhere in my gut, and I'd look away quickly, usually tanking several rocks afterward. To make matters worse, Sirius was on the other side of the lake with Mary, and they were having a very heated er- conversation.

I skipped a rock five times and silently congratulated myself. It's sad, but that was my record. Presently I heard Mary's voice drift across the lake. "Ouch! Sirius what the hell?!"

Then I heard Sirus's coy reply, "It was a horsefly."

"ON MY ASS!"

I grinned and chuckled to myself. I was surprised to hear I wasn't the only one laughing. I turned around quickly and my smile disappeared. It was _her. _

"Oh. It's you." I said coldly, turning away.

I heard muffled footsteps as she came to stand next to me, but I didn't turn around. "Yes." Said Lily, "It's me."

I didn't say anything, she went on timidly, "So I talked to Stacy…"

She trailed off. "So?" I said, looking down at the rippled surface of the black lake.

"And er- she well… she made me realize some things."

I rolled my eyes, but I don't think she saw me.

"And well… I think I owe you an apology for jumping to conclusions about you and her."

"Hmmm…" I said curtly, "Jumping to conclusions. That's what you call throwing a fit and calling me a womanizing rat bastard and Stacy a ditsy blond slut. How nice." My lips curled into a sneer and I turned to look at her.

As I spoke she looked down at the ground. I couldn't see her face, but I could tell she was in bad shape. Her usually smooth and silky hair was knotted and thrown into a lazy ponytail. She was wearing a ratty old T-shirt and even shabbier jeans. Her shoulders were slumped in a thoroughly depressing manner, and her skin looked incredibly pale and delicate.

I felt my heart nearly twist in a knot when I saw her like this, but my anger had not dissipated by any means, so I continued frowning at her.

She kept her head down and spoke to the mossy ground, "I know, you're absolutely right James. I am so, so, so, terribly, terribly sorry."

She said it in a quaking voice, as she stopped to breath I realized that she was about to go into a long gushing, kiss-up apology, and I didn't want to hear that from her. "I don't have to listen to this." I snarled, and then began walking away from her.

I didn't hear her follow me. It wasn't until I was about five or six steps away that she tried to call me back. "Wait James. Please. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I should have never doubted you. And I should have never listened to Rita Skeeter!"

The name Rita Skeeter jolted me like a bucket of icy water. "Did you just say Rita Skeeter?" I asked, not quite able to keep the anger out of my voice, before turning around.

I was met by her brilliant green eyes, which were gushing out tears like a waterfall.

"Yes James. Yes. She told me you cheated on me with Stacy, but I should never have listened to her. Never in a thousand years. She just wanted to split us up to get back at us for that pocket book incident. All that just for a stupid pocketbook." She stopped for a minute to wipe her eyes, and I remained rooted to the spot. "And I don't know why I listened to her James. It's just been so confusing over the last few months. Ever since you came along, it's like nothing is simple and logical anymore. The more time I spend with you, the more my world gets thrown out of balance. I've told you things I'd never say to anyone else. I've done things I never would have done if it weren't for you. I've trusted you like no one else. You scared me half to death, because I didn't want anyone to get too close to me. The last person I became attached too, well she died. And then my older sister, whom I'd always looked up to, she abandoned me. I didn't want that to happen with you. I tried to push you away, but it didn't work. You were just too damn persistent. And then I realized it. The reason you scare me so much is because… well you're you. You're James Potter. You can be annoying and arrogant at times, but above all…" she took a deep breath and plunged on, "I think, somewhere along the course of this year, I fell in love with you James."

When she said those last few words, it was like a tidal wave of emotion washed over me, and left me standing there, blinking stupidly in the fading sunlight at an anxious Lily. I looked her over. She wasn't crying anymore, but her face was tear stained and some flyaway wisps of hair were sticking to the salty streaks on her face. She didn't look like the Lily I knew at first glance, but then I caught a glimpse of something like defiance in those beautiful emerald eyes of hers, and I knew that every word she'd just said was true.

"C'mon Lily. Lets sit down." I said, because she looked on the verge of tears again.

I put a hand on her shoulder and gently steered her to the bank under the beach tree, where she had saved my life barely a month ago. We sat down. I crossed my legs, but Lily kicked off her flip-flops and dangled her feet in the water.

"So." She said.

"So." I agreed.

Lily looked down at her toes, "I was wrong about Stacy. She's actually really nice. And smart. She's top of her class you know."

"Yeah. I knew that. She's also a prefect, head of the chess and gobstones club, and keeper for Slytherin. She's an absolute perfectionist. Kind of reminds me of you actually. That's why I wanted to go to the dance with her. I figured if I couldn't be with you, might as well be with someone like you."

Lily smiled slightly. "Yeah. And you think she's hot."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I settled for the truth, "Sure. But I still like red-heads better."

Lily rolled her eyes. I smiled at that, because it was such a Lily-ish thing to do. She was back.

We sat on that bank in silence for a long time. The air became colder as the sun slowly set, and I wrapped m arm around Lily and pulled her close to me to keep her warm. She didn't resist, on the contrary, she put her head on my shoulder and sighed contentedly.

The sky was streaked with pink and orange, then deep red, and finally blue and purple, before the sun finally set, casting the grounds in darkness. "We should probably head in." I said somewhat sadly.

"Yeah probably." Said Lily, but neither of us moved.

After a few moments, Lily finally broke the silence, "So you uhhh… you forgive me then?" she asked timidly.

"Yeah. Of course I do Lily." I said.

"No. Not just for today. I mean for everything. Turning you down all those times and insulting you. I shouldn't have done that."

"I deserved all the insults Lily and- wait a second…" Something in the back of my mind clicked. "Did you just apologize for rejecting me?"

"Yes."

"Does that mean what I think it means?"

"What do you think it means?"

I crossed my fingers in a childish gesture of good luck. Fortunately, it was too dark for her to see me. "That you want to be my girlfriend?" I asked.

I could almost feel her blushing in the darkness. "Yes." She said simply.

My jaw nearly dropped off my face, "Wow Lily… After all this time and hard work. And all I needed to do was burn a hole in a vindictive journalists pocketbook and invite a Slytherin to the dance. Geeze… If you'd just told me this beforehand I would have-"

"Oh just shut up and kiss me!"

I didn't need telling twice. I stopped talking immediately and leant forward slightly, perhaps a bit too eagerly, because our foreheads collided painfully.

"Oww James!" Said Lily, jerking her head quickly so that her lips came to rest near my ear.

"I love it when you say that." I said softly, moving my head more slowly this time, so as to avoid collision.

"Say what?" She asked, her lips now mere inches from mine.

"My name." I said simply, inching forward slowly, ever so slowly.

"James?"

I could feel her breath on my lips, they were so close, impossibly close. I raised my hand and cupped her face in my palm, gently caressing her smooth cheekbones, "Yeah baby…"

I could almost feel her eyes rolling. I went to close the distance between us, but found she'd already done just that.

We shared one long, sweet, lingering kiss before she pulled away slightly, teasing me.

She put a finger to my lips, tracing them. "You know, I think I like that. James. It sounds nice. James and Lily…" She trailed off musingly.

I lowered my head, and my lips found skin, probably her neck. I began trailing kisses along there, and Lily lets out a moan of pleasure. When I reached what I presumed to be an earlobe, I pulled back and whispered huskily into her ear, "What about Lils?"

I felt her shake her head, then she seemed to remember that it was pitch black and she said softly, "Nah. Just Lily's fine with me. I love it when you call me Lily."

I smiled to myself in the darkness, "Well play your cards right tonight babe, and you might just have me screaming your name."

She snorted and shoved me playfully. I put my hand behind me to keep balance, and found nothing but air, and then icy water. There was a soft splash and Lily let out a gasp.

"James are you-"

"Just my hand." I said quickly. "I forgot we were next to the lake for a second there."

"Oh sorry. Me too."

I pulled her face towards me, she allowed herself to fall forward slightly and enveloped me in a gut-wrenching kiss. When we finally pulled apart, we were both gasping for air.

"Hey wait a second…" I said slowly, "I just remembered something."

"Hmmmm…" Came Lily's reply.

"The last time we were here, you pushed me in the lake, almost drowned me, kissed me like the dickens and then left."

"Oh yeah, sorry 'bout that." Said Lily quickly, kissing me again

I broke away from her after a few seconds, "And know what else I just realized?"

Lily sighed. "What James?"

"That I haven't gotten even with you yet!"

There was silence for a moment, and then: "Don't you dare James Potter!" she cried shrilly, the panic evident in her voice.

But it was too late. I had already started to push, and unfortunately, I had failed to take into account that Lily was practically on top of me, so naturally she dragged me into the freezing cold water along with her.

We hit the water with a soft _splash! _Weboth immediately came to the surface, sputtering for air. Lily was talking, but I could only make out a few words here and there, "Could have drowned… So cold… Dark… Someone could hear us…"

But I cut her off with a quick kiss, miraculously managing to find her wet and swollen lips in the dim light of the crescent moon. I wrapped my arms around her, tugging us closer, and she raised her hands entangled them in my soaking wet hair.

We stood there in the sludge and freezing cold water for God only knows how long, making out passionately. Eventually I think her knees gave out or something, because I felt her stagger, and then melt into my arms. Thankfully her weight wasn't much because of the water. I decided to tease her slightly by leaning towards the water, and the top of her head grazed the glossy surface. "James!" She cried pulling away, while simultaneously stepping back into the sludge and pushing me back towards the water.

In my surprise she managed to dunk my head under. I came up spluttering and heard her sweet, melodious laugh.

_Oh yeah…_ I thought, _Well two can play at this game… _Her laughter began to die down, so I lunged at her before it became impossibly to discern her relative location.

My hand landed at the top f her head, and I pushed her under, sinking below the surface along with her.

When we came up she was in my arms. "No fair." She said quietly.

"Alls fair in love and war." I quoted facetiously.

She snorted, nuzzling her face into my neck. I felt a tremor pass through her body and was sure she was shivering, "You're cold," I said, "Lets get out of here."

I slogged over to where I thought the shore was, thankfully found it ok and hoisted Lily up.

She sat on the bank and waited while I scrambled up to her. "We should probably head in." She said.

I nodded, wondering how on earth we were going to find our way back to the castle with no light. Lily answered my question easily. "Lumos." She muttered, as if reading my mind.

Her wand tip ignited, and the area around us was cast into sharp focus. The first thing I noticed of course was Lily, soaking wet, in a baggy T-shirt. Now that's hot!

She noticed me staring at her chest, and her eyes widened. "Hey!" I said, "I'm your boyfriend now. I'm allowed."

"That doesn't make you any less of a perv." She said, and cast a spell which immediately dried both of us off.

"Um thanks." I said.

"Don't mention it." She smirked. "Lets go."

I loped my arm around her shoulder and led her back towards the castle.

/-o0o-/

It must have been well past midnight by the time we reached the common room. This was definitely against the rules, but somehow I found I didn't quite care. The nights events had filled me with a sense of reckless excitement and rebellion. I felt unbelievingly happy and refreshed (probably because I just got pushed in the lake) but yet I was tired. I hadn't slept a wink the previous night. I was now nearing about 36 hours sleepless.

"I think it's time to turn in." I said to James.

For a second I saw a flicker of disappointment cross his face, but he soon replaced it. "Ok Lily. Wanna come up to my dorm?" He waggled his eyebrow suggestively.

"With your perverted roommates, I don't think so."

We shared one last, lingering kiss by the light of the common room fire before we broke apart and went our separate ways. I was halfway up the stairs to my dorm before I looked back at the boys stairwell. James met my eye and winked before opening his door and walking inside, I rolled my eyes and kept going.

When I reached my dorm, I was surprised to find all the beds empty. Alice and Mary were gone, but I thought I knew exactly where to find them.

Quickly I brushed my hair and teeth, washed my face, and changed into PJ's. Then I grabbed my wand and headed out the door.

I headed up the stairs to the boys dorm and gently pushed the door open. Mary and Alice were there alright, both curled up asleep in Frank and Sirius's beds, is was kind of cute actually. Remus and Peter were both asleep as well, Peter snoring quietly.

I heard running water, James was probably in the bathroom washing up. I walked over to the only vacant bed and sat down to wait.

He came out a few minutes later, and when I saw him I had to make a conscious effort to keep my mouth from dropping open. He was only wearing a pair of checker-print boxers and nothing else, giving me a good look at his well-defined and muscular chest. I let my eyes roam, fascinated as he walked out of the bathroom and yawned, spreading his arms out and causing his muscles to stretch and constrict like rippling waves.

He noticed me staring and smirked. "You like what you see?" he asked cockily.

I rolled my eyes in response. "Hey, just returning the favor."

He smiled, and then his eyes darted towards his bed and then to me. "You're on my bed." He said a bit unsteadily.

"Yeah." I said evenly. "Can I stay here? My friends kind of abandoned me." Here I gestured to Alice and Mary, both sound asleep.

He spared them a quick glance before his eyes came back to rest on me. "Sure. That'd be great."

He grabbed a baggy T-shirt and shorts and put them on, climbing into his four-poster bed. I followed.

We slipped under the sheets and Potter put his arms around me, pulling me close. He was facing me, our faces barely inches from each other, but somehow I found I didn't ache to close the distance. We'd done that enough for one night, and I was tired. It could wait till morning, when, most likely, Mary's squeals would wake us.

"Tonight was absolutely amazing James…" I whispered, even though I didn't think anyone would wake.

"Yeah." He said, "You're amazing."

"And you're a kiss up." I whispered conspiratorially.

He smiled, "I keep forgetting I've already got you. I don't have to impress you anymore."

"What, and you think flattery is impressing?"

"Hey, It worked on all the girls I dated before-" he stopped quickly, realization of what he had just said dawning on his face. "Wait I-I didn't mean that Lily-"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes, chuckling softly, "I'm not like other girls Potter. Get over it."

He smiled, looking relieved, "I know you're not like other girls Lily. You're- your're you. And that's an incredible, wonderful person. I'm so lucky to have someone special like you in my life."

I smiled, "That's cute." I said simply.

"Cute?" he asked, feigning hurt.

"Yeah. Kinda like a Hallmark card."

"You know what's cute?" he asked, without waiting for an answer, "You." He leant forward and kissed me on the nose. It was just a light touch, but it sent shivers through my entire body.

We were silent for a time, but his eyes were still locked on mine and I found I couldn't look away. "So graduation tomorrow…" He trailed off.

I sighed, "Yeah… It's going to be weird being away from school."

"I know. But don't worry. We can apparate now. We'll still see each other all the time. We can even get together with the whole gang. You know, go like- oh what's that muggle game- golding?"

"Golfing." I corrected. "Or bowling or something. Yeah I'd like that. It'd be fun."

"And there's still Frank and Alice's wedding." He said.

"Yeah that's something to look forward to."

"But Lily. I just want to let you know. Whatever happens, I'll always be there for you."

I smiled at him. "You know, you told me that once before, and I believed you. And I still do now. Thank you James."

"You're welcome Lily. I'm going to try to get a job soon. And then I'll get some gold and maybe buy a place where you can move in with me. How would you like that?"

Although I knew I'd like that very much, this conversation was moving a bit too quickly for me. "Just, lets not talk about the future right now. I've spent my entire life preparing for the future, and I'm happy now. In the present. So let's just- you know- live for the moment for a little while. Ok?"

He nodded. "Yeah Lily, ok."

He closed his eyes for a minute and his breathing evened slightly. I was sure he was asleep. I couldn't quite help myself, so I lent forward and whispered in his ear, "I love you James."

He surprised me by cracking an eye open. "I love you too, Lily." He whispered.

He moved his head so that it was touching mine, and we nuzzled each other slightly. Then I closed my eyes and let my head sink into his musty smelling pillow. Within seconds, I was asleep.

/-o0o-/

I watched her sleep for a few moments, just basking it all in. She'd finally agreed to go out with me. Finally. After all these fruitless attempts, and futile conquests. Finally she'd changed her mind. The chase was over, and for that I was grateful.

It may be the end of our time at school, but it was certainly the beginning of something even more special. Tonight was the turning point in our lives. What awaited us out there, I had not the slightest clue. All I knew was that whatever happened, we'd face it together. We made a good team, Lily and I. And I knew that no matter what, I'd always be there for her, and she for me.

You may think I'm being a sob romantic here, but in that moment, it couldn't be helped. I was a man in love, and that's a wonderful thing.

I took one last glance at Lily's peaceful form before I laid my head down and drifted off to sleep.

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A/N: Ok peoples. First off, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story for so long, and especially to those who have left their kind and encouraging reviews. A special shout out to Puppyscruffy and Mel, who have both reviewed EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER! Thanks so much to all you guys, it's a great feeling to know that your work has been read and appreciated. You guys are awesome! You've made writing my first ever multi chapter fic a really wonderful experience;)

_A/N2: Whoo that was long! Geesh, I sound like I'm winning an Oscar or something. And just FYI, I've half a mind to do an epilogue, so I'm leaving this story as incomplete for now. Think I should? Drop me a line via review and let me know what you think! _

_**Thanks Again Guys! **_

_**-DobbyRoxMySox** _


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